The Opposition and experts in public affairs are calling on Western Australia’s (WA) Labour government to increase its spending to tackle the healthcare and housing crises after the state reported a $5.7 billion (US$3.92 billion) budget surplus in the 2021-2022 financial year.
While confirming the surplus and announcing the state budget for 2022-2023, Premier Mark McGowan said he suspected other state governments would be “green with envy.”
The new budget projected a conservative $1.6 billion surplus for 2022-2023 based on the US$77.50 per tonne price of iron ore and predicted that GST revenue would rise from $5.9 billion in the next financial year to $7.4 billion in 2025-2026.
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