Important first State Budget following landslide election for ambitious Rita Saffioti

West Australian

12 hours ago

It's a no-brainer to suggest Thursday's State Budget is important for the re-elected Cook Labor Government.
Every Budget is important.
But this is the first Budget after Labor's smashing of the Liberals at the March State election.
So: people who voted for Labor — and that's the majority of West Aussies — will be eagerly awaiting their 'post-election dividend' on Thursday.
But equally, this is an important Budget for the hard-nosed and driven Rita Saffioti, who will deliver her second Budget and, as Treasurer, has been a driving force behind how the Government's billions in royalties and GST payments are divvied up for next financial year.
So, these days, where's Saffioti at in terms of future ambitions?
I'm reliably told Saffioti still harbours a burning desire to be Labor's next premier.
The size of Roger Cook's win in March — for mine, Labor's greatest victory since it won power in 2017 — has made the likelihood of the Kwinana MP retiring before the next election less than it would otherwise have been.
Nevertheless, despite Cook's line that he is 'only just getting started' in terms of his premiership, I am unconvinced he will recontest the 2029 poll.
I'm told Saffioti is still hoping to lead Labor to the next election.
Her main rival is Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson.
I can confidently predict that should Sanderson get the nod to be Premier — if Cook resigns before the next poll — Saffioti will retire from politics quicker than an Italian Nonna can knock up a plate of spaghetti bolognaise.
If Saffioti is to become Labor's next leader, she needs to be an outstanding Treasurer.
Thursday is a big day for her.
There's a few things for her to achieve this Budget.
Saffioti needs to make sure WA's AAA credit rating remains intact; she needs to appease the business community; she needs to appease the general community; and she needs to appease Caucus.
It's Caucus — under instructions from unions — that will vote for Labor's next leader.
And my mail (from senior Labor sources) is that a number of backbenchers are getting a bit testy about where the Government's billions are being spent.
Hands up who remembers Colin Barnett's Emperor's Palace?
Barnett's $26 million decision to relocate his office and the Cabinet room from rented accommodation in Governor Stirling Tower to the heritage-listed Hale House — instead of joining his ministers at Dumas House — was lambasted by Labor in opposition, in which Saffioti was finance spokesperson.
Barnett moved into Hale House in 2012, at a time state debt had climbed from $3.6 billion to $19b under his rein.
Labor pointed to the Hale House project as further proof of Barnett's and the Liberals' arrogance.
Saffioti is the driving force behind a $217 million 'world-class motorsport street circuit.'
That's what Labor called the project when it first publicly floated it in The Sunday Times in June last year.
'Imagine the noise, atmosphere and crowds as V8s fly around a new and specially designed racetrack in Burswood Park, just a stone's throw from the city. It'll be incredible,' Saffioti said at the time.
These days, Saffioti calls it an entertainment precinct, because it includes a 20,000-seat amphitheatre for concerts and the like.
Regardless of what you call it, backbenchers — and I'm sure members of the public who aren't revheads, are questioning whether that $217m could be better spent elsewhere.
Will people think spending $65m on basing a new NRL side to Perth is a justifiable expense?
Roger Cook might, but what about if you are one of 22,000 West Australians currently waiting, on average, 154 weeks for social housing?
Labor's Budget will be inked in black — not red, like the Budgets of governments across the Nullarbor.
The quarterly financial results released just a few weeks ago already show an operating surplus of $2.8b for the first nine months of this financial year.
Saffioti will, on Budget day, detail spending on hundreds of millions of dollars in health, education and social housing.
Great.
But sometimes it takes just one project, one example of wasteful spending, to smear an administration.
And mud sticks.
Just ask The Emperor.