So after all that mining boom and hoohah - Victoria is far richer and more developed than WA.
Fresh from the papers.
Western Australia is spending more than it is earning. This has become such a fixture of fiscal life in WA that it should be turned into a slogan for inscription on the next run of number plates, replacing such classic slogans as the state of excitement.
It is depressingly exciting watching the boom subside, with a set of ho-hum financial books to show for it.
This is especially the case when comparing with WA?s football nemesis, Victoria. That manufacturing graveyard which was forced to watch WA?s iron ore boom from afar has forecast $11 billion in budget surpluses over the next four years.
By comparison, WA is forecasting $513 million in surpluses over the same period. So what is going wrong out west?
Colin Barnett?s Liberals might be tough on sharks but it has been soft on economic discipline.
In a sign of how hard it is to bring in a horse that has already bolted, a series of tough measures on display in this budget, that includes trying to severely restrict spending on public sector wages, has failed to make any noticeable improvement to its books.
In short, it spent too much in the boom. Many of the budget measures are designed to finally bring expense growth below revenue growth; or in simple terms, to finally spend less than it makes, which is a task the government failed on during its first term.
Yet, there remains a question over whether the government can fulfil its promises of tough-talking given rating house Standard & Poor?s has found the state government ?lacked political will? to enforce reform.
Even if these measures are implemented, debt is now forecast to reach almost $30 billion by 2017-18, despite the government previously promising to cap net debt at $20 billion.
The state?s new treasurer, Mike Nahan, is now talking about prudent economic management, in keeping with the wise notion that a volatile, resource-fuelled economy needs to save especially hard for the inevitable rainy day.
That?s all very good rhetoric. But it is five years too late.
Fresh from the papers.
Western Australia is spending more than it is earning. This has become such a fixture of fiscal life in WA that it should be turned into a slogan for inscription on the next run of number plates, replacing such classic slogans as the state of excitement.
It is depressingly exciting watching the boom subside, with a set of ho-hum financial books to show for it.
This is especially the case when comparing with WA?s football nemesis, Victoria. That manufacturing graveyard which was forced to watch WA?s iron ore boom from afar has forecast $11 billion in budget surpluses over the next four years.
By comparison, WA is forecasting $513 million in surpluses over the same period. So what is going wrong out west?
Colin Barnett?s Liberals might be tough on sharks but it has been soft on economic discipline.
In a sign of how hard it is to bring in a horse that has already bolted, a series of tough measures on display in this budget, that includes trying to severely restrict spending on public sector wages, has failed to make any noticeable improvement to its books.
In short, it spent too much in the boom. Many of the budget measures are designed to finally bring expense growth below revenue growth; or in simple terms, to finally spend less than it makes, which is a task the government failed on during its first term.
Yet, there remains a question over whether the government can fulfil its promises of tough-talking given rating house Standard & Poor?s has found the state government ?lacked political will? to enforce reform.
Even if these measures are implemented, debt is now forecast to reach almost $30 billion by 2017-18, despite the government previously promising to cap net debt at $20 billion.
The state?s new treasurer, Mike Nahan, is now talking about prudent economic management, in keeping with the wise notion that a volatile, resource-fuelled economy needs to save especially hard for the inevitable rainy day.
That?s all very good rhetoric. But it is five years too late.
