Advocacy groups weigh in on WA budget

Key advocacy groups and stakeholders have weighed in on the impacts the 2026-27 state budget will have on everyday Western Australian.

Despite being described as the budget that would help tackle the cost of living crisis, most groups felt that a $100 fuel voucher was not enough to overshadow the letdowns for the average person.

Critics of the budget

Community and Public Sector Union and Civil Service Association branch secretary Melanie Bray said her optimism in the budget was “clearly misplaced”.

“Today, our union came to this budget with a sense of hope, and clearly misplaced optimism about what the future might hold. But unfortunately, that hope was marred by the shocking revelation that this government intends to cut 1500 public sector jobs,” she said.

“Make no mistake that a cut of any size, let alone of this magnitude, will be a cut to public services.”

Bray criticised Premier Roger Cook’s decision to take away public sector jobs during a time of economic uncertainty.

“The reality is that every front line needs a back line, and today’s decision means that that front line is going to be left without support that it needs to deliver its services,” she said

The $100 fuel payments offered to those with a valid WA driver’s licence was also slammed as a failure for those who are already struggling.

“Today’s budget will provide very little to no relief to many struggling households. The claim around targeted cost of living was really missing,” West Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Louise Giolitto said.

“We did see $100 going to every single person who holds a West Australian licence, and that could have inflationary pressures, and it’s not going to those who are most in need. It’s being delivered to every single household in Western Australia, not targeting those families in need. That’s what’s missing.

“I can give you a very simple example in my head – a single parent with three children, that person is going to get $100, another household with two parents is going to get $200 that has two incomes coming into the household. It’s not fair, and it’s not targeted.”

Youth Homelessness Advisory Council advocate Caitlan, who did not provide her surname, said she was disappointed in the lack of financial support for struggling youth members.

“It is with much grief and disappointment that I say that once again, young people have gone unheard in today’s budget. The needs and demands of young people are not going to go away just because we ignore them,” she said.

“I know that somewhere out there, there is a young child, maybe 10, maybe 11, maybe 12, who is looking for a safe place to stay, and today, the state government has said that they will not make an effort to end that child’s homelessness.”

Caitlan said she experienced homelessness at age 11, and now at 18 wants to reassure others that they will not give up the fight for increased government support.

“As a young person who was born into poverty, who experienced homelessness, I believe that myself and anybody else my age, regardless of their economic position or how they grew up, regardless of whether they have a home or not, deserves to have equal opportunities,” she said.

“And to any young people who are feeling the same amount of hopelessness as me, don’t worry, because we will keep fighting to make sure that your voices are heard.”

WA Greens leader Brad Pettit said the budget felt like a “big box of Band-Aids”.

“This budget is deeply disappointing. It reminds me of, actually, of a giant box of Band-Aids trying to cover up a wound,” he said.

“[The budget has] been mapped as a housing budget, but on every metric, housing is going in the wrong direction. Prices are going up. Rents are going up, the public housing wait lists are getting longer, and homelessness is growing.

“This government needs to stop pretending that they can build their way out of this crisis, for actually dealing with the structural issues that need to happen. Frankly, if we put rent caps in place today, it would do more than all of these announcements that you see.”

Pettit said the $100 fuel voucher was a giant bandaid that didn’t get to the “heart of the issues” for people.

“We give people fuel credits, we do this kind of tinkering around the edges, pretending that we’re doing something that, I mean, it’s barely going to give people one tank of fuel,” he said.

Supporters of the budget

With housing, hospitals and education coming out on top of the budget, not all advocacy groups and stakeholders were against the outcomes.

Master Builders WA chief executive Matt Moran said he was glad to see that the state government back housing, supply and infrastructure.

“Everyone at home wants to talk about housing. They either have a house or need a house, and so we’re saying housing supply is critical. The government has done well on that, but now we need the workers to deliver it,” he said.

Housing Industries Association executive director Michael McGowan said the budget provided “$4.7 billion of housing certainty to both industry and the WA public”.

“I think importantly, there’s not much in today’s budget that’s going to fix the housing crisis that we are currently in at the moment, but over the long term, we now have the certainty that we need to build infrastructure, networks and workforce pipelines to support that growth and bring more housing into Western Australia,” McGowan said.

Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA head of economics Aaron Walker said he was pleased to see the state government acting to ensure WA fuel security.

“What CME and the resources sector got out of today’s budget was really around energy, regional housing and strategic industrial development,” he said. “Obviously, the resources sector needs diesel in particular, and jet fuel to continue its operations, to continue putting money in people’s pockets.”