Article courtesy of Perth Now.
WA’s booming resources sector remains the ace in the deck for the Federal Government’s budget repair efforts, with iron ore and LNG exports poised to continue delivering much-needed revenue windfalls in the face of rising debt.
But despite the Federal Budget highlighting the contribution of the State’s mining and resources sector to the nation’s finances, WA only received $635 million of the $8.1 billion (8 per cent) of new funding for road and rail projects.
No timeframe was given for Labor’s election pledge to contribute $87.5m towards the William Street level crossing and new elevated Beckenham train station.
A $75m election promise to build a ‘surgicentre’ at Bentley Hospital was confirmed, though the money won’t start flowing for another two years and only $33m was slated to have been spent by 2025-26.
The Budget moved $6.5b of planned spending beyond 2025-26, by which time the Government expects inflation to ease.
As expected, $375m over four years was confirmed for Perth’s one-stop cancer centre, with cost to be shared 50-50 with the State.
Iron ore alone accounted for nearly one-quarter of the nation’s record export earnings last year, pouring tens of billions of dollars into the economy through royalties and taxes.
