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ABC News
13 hours ago
- Business
- ABC News
As Western Australia posts worst inflation figures in nation, state government spruiks 'responsible' financial management
Thinking about the cost of living and the pressures of inflation are things we would all rather leave in the past, right? The WA government certainly wants you to. "The inflation beast has been tamed," Treasurer Rita Saffioti said in handing down this year's state budget, with its noted shift away from cost-of-living relief and towards the government's focus on diversifying the state's economy. But has the beast really been tamed? The latest inflation data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics — the authority on these things — showed an improving picture nationally which strengthens the argument for an August interest rate cut. Western Australia was the outlier, recording a 1.9 per cent increase in the cost of living between March and June, and a 2.7 per cent increase over the year — both the highest in the nation. The vast majority of that was caused by a 116.8 per cent increase in power bills, with Commonwealth and state government rebates coming to an end. That has added an extra $550 to most homes' power bills compared to last year. "Thanks to our responsible management of the state finances, we've been able to provide significant cost-of-living relief to Western Australians through the worst of the cost-of-living crisis," was how Ms Saffioti said she saw the inflation numbers. "When excluding the impact of electricity credits being unwound, [quarterly] Perth CPI rose by 0.7 per cent." It is a line the government has often repeated since the budget: if you leave electricity out of inflation calculations, the increases are significantly lower. Which is true, of course — across the rest of the economy, the price shocks of years gone by have significantly settled. At one point, we were seeing annual increases of over eight per cent. "It would be nice to exclude certain increases, [but] that's not the lived experience of people living in Western Australia at the moment," independent economist Conrad Liveris said. Because, while having a less heated economy on the whole is helpful for people making ends meet, it does not change the fact that power bills are going up significantly over the year. That couple of hundred extra dollars will have to come from somewhere. Also not helping is that wages have not kept up with rising prices, as anyone trying to balance a household budget knows. Between March 2020 and March 2025, inflation rose 22 per cent in Perth — but wages rose only 17 per cent. That is among the biggest gaps in the country, despite wage growth in the west being the third strongest around the nation. "Unfortunately, Western Australian families have to pay escalating rents and mortgages whilst wages aren't budging," shadow treasurer Sandra Brewer told a business breakfast on Wednesday. "We've had no productive reforms in this state to drive wages above inflation and create prosperity for the people [since 2017]. "I welcome the lead of Jim Chalmers's roundtable to boost productivity and real wages because we have not seen any initiative from WA Labor." At the end of the day, though, yesterday's inflation numbers show Western Australians not only endured the second-worst increase in cost of living over the past five years, but also the longest period of pressure. "Effectively, in one way, [the electricity credits] delayed the pain that households are experiencing and they'll have to contend with that now," Mr Liveris said. Ripping off the multi-billion-dollar power bill credit band-aids was always going to hurt. The question, which can only be judged with the benefit of hindsight, is whether that support was ultimately well-timed to suppress what could have been an even worse cost-of-living crisis, or whether it could have been better managed to prevent such a harsh end. The next challenge for the government to confront is how to help wages catch up with inflation in the long term and really share the prosperity of the nation's richest state with those who have helped create it.
SBS Australia
23-07-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
Advocates urge reform of WA tenancy laws
Advocates urge reform of WA tenancy laws Published 23 July 2025, 8:43 am Western Australia has some of the weakest renter protections in the country and is now one of just two jurisdictions that still allow no-fault evictions. Housing advocates are urging reform while the WA Government says it's doing everything it can to build more social and affordable homes. The stakes could not be higher for one single mother in Perth who is now preparing to live in her car.
The Guardian
23-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Australia facing $500m Chevron cleaning bill; Obama breaks silence on Trump; and the blowback against office air
Good afternoon. The Australian government faces having to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the American oil and gas company Chevron to help it clean up oil wells on Barrow Island, in Western Australia, under a deal made in the 1980s. The WA government also faces a hefty bill – estimated to be $129m – to help repair an offshore nature reserve where about 900 wells have been drilled over the past six decades. Chevron says it has paid more than $1bn in royalties – about $3 a barrel – for oil and gas extracted from beneath the island, which is about 70km off the state's north-west coast. Under state legislation written especially for the project, federal and state taxpayers will have to pay them back nearly half that amount to help cover remediation costs. Asio's 9/11-era questioning powers to become permanent despite warnings from human rights advocates Labor puts childcare centres on notice after abuse scandal with 'one strike' threat to funding Obama breaks silence on Trump's 'outrageous' call to prosecute him Sunday school teacher jailed for sexually abusing nine children protected by church leader, Victorian cult inquiry hears Daily Telegraph headline wrongly claiming 'Labor backs Hamas' breached accuracy rules, Australian Press Council finds AFP news agency calls on Israel to allow evacuation of its freelance contributors 'War is very funny for the first couple of years': how Russia's invasion transformed Ukraine's comedy scene Behind closed doors at a New York City federal building, people are confined after being seized by officers on their way out of immigration court on the 12th floor. This rare look inside Donald Trump's anti-immigration crackdown shows one of several rooms from which accounts have emerged of people being detained in unsuitable conditions with few basic provisions. Ice maintains the rooms are not used for detention. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has requested that the small Pacific nation of Palau accept asylum seekers currently residing in the US, amid a wider push from the US to deport migrants to countries they are not from. 'We're not gelded, we're not emasculated. We're very much virile and out there' – Michael McCormack The Nationals MP said he didn't want to be a boring interview for the media – this was one way of going about it. McCormack was responding to Liberal MP Dan Tehan, who had earlier compared McCormack and Barnaby Joyce to 'two steers in a paddock' after one former leader backed the other's push to repeal net zero by 2050. The party's current leader, David Littleproud, meanwhile, says he's 'relaxed' about whatever Joyce and McCormack are up to. Just days after the cancellation of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Donald Trump has claimed that the future owner of the US TV network CBS will provide him with $20m worth of advertising and programming as part of his settlement with Paramount over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. Sign up to Afternoon Update Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Is 'office air' to blame for your limp workday hair and spotty, flaky skin? Air conditioning, heating and poor ventilation in the office can contribute to drier skin and greasier hair, Natasha May writes – but other factors such as the commute may play a part too. Today's starter word is: FIX. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply. Enjoying the Afternoon Update? Then you'll love our Morning Mail newsletter. Sign up here to start the day with a curated breakdown of the key stories you need to know, and complete your daily news roundup. And follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland.
7NEWS
19-07-2025
- 7NEWS
Lancelin locals trigger alarm on coastal erosion as coastline washes away and wild weather predicted
A popular Aussie fishing and tourist town has pleaded for help as an aggressive ocean washes away their tiny coastal home before their eyes. The erosion crisis in Lancelin, 125km north of Perth, has worsened since 7NEWS visited just over two months ago and cast a major cloud over the future of the getaway known for its white sand and relaxed seaside lifestyle. Locals say more than 10m of land has vanished since May and they seriously fear for their homes and businesses. Anxiously watching the shoreline inch towards his pub, Lancelin Sands Hotel owner of three years Glen Trebilcock has pleaded for emergency funding and specialist technical assistance from the state government in a petition supported by 800 signatures. 'Without immediate intervention, the safety of the foreshore and the integrity of essential coastal infrastructure remain at serious risk,' he said. 'We strongly believe that a retreat is not a viable solution.' The local shire has also written to WA Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti for help but says they are yet to hear back. 'We're not asking for millions of dollars at the moment, we're just asking for a little bit of financial assistance,' Gingin Shire President Linda Balcombe told 7NEWS. 'We're a very small shire with only about 6000 ratepayers and we've got a big coastline that we have to protect. 'If we're protecting private businesses and private houses we also need to come up with a model that everybody's putting something into this — shire, landowners and the state, and even federal government. It's an Australia-wide problem.' Balcombe said more than 25 metres of coastline had been eaten up in some of the worst-hit places in the last year. 'Of course (the locals) are nervous. They live here, there's a lot of value in their properties (and) angst if they're going to get inundated,' Balcombe told 7NEWS. 'I don't blame them.' Thousands of tourists are drawn to Lancelin's white sand and picturesque water every year, but Trebilcock said the erosion issue that threatens to swallow up their slice of paradise is having an impact on visitor numbers. 'Six tour companies that used to come through every day, they've all disappeared. They bypass and they just go directly up to Jurien (Bay),' he told 7NEWS. A lookout that has sat by his hotel for decades and is a sought-after stop with international selfie-hunters will be torn down next week due to safety concerns. Former WA opposition leader Shane Love said he had raised a grievance in parliament and followed up again in budget estimates. 'I've said this a number of times in parliament already, the state government need emergency funds and the ability to respond urgently,' he said. The WA Government told 7NEWS it is 'aware of the issues and is actively looking at options to assist'. A weekend cold front set to smash the coast and threatens to eat further into the remaining waterfront. 'The seas will really pick up. We're expecting quite high swells ... well up over five metres behind the system as well,' Bureau of Meteorology WA manager James Ashley said. Some experts fear there is little that can be done at this point. 'In the case of Lancelin, it's built in the wrong place. It's built in an eroding coastline,' UWA coastal oceanography professor Charitha Pattiaratchi told 7NEWS in May. 'It's probably controversial — [but the best thing to do would be] retreat, do nothing.'
ABC News
01-07-2025
- ABC News
Fears for Moreton Bay Figs after shot-hole borer detected on Rottnest Island
The shot hole borer has been detected on Rottnest Island and has already destroyed several trees, raising concerns for the island's long-established Moreton Bay figs. Tourism Minister Reece Whitby confirmed the arrival of the invasive pest on the WA holiday island, off Perth, in response to a question during a budget estimates hearing in state parliament on Tuesday. The tree-killing beetle has spread across the Perth metropolitan area, and there is a nationally-funded effort to stop it breaking out into agricultural areas and other parts of the country. On Friday, the wood-boring beetle was detected in the City of Wanneroo, in Perth's north, for the first time, after previously mainly being found in the southern and central metropolitan areas. The WA government recently conceded it had lost the multi-million dollar fight to eradicate the shot-hole borer, instead shifting its focus to managing it. Most of the trees on Rottnest Island are native, which the beetle does not target. However, Mr Whitby told budget estimates less than 10 non-native, or exotic, trees had been killed or infested by shot-hole borers. There is particular concern for the island's long-established Moreton Bay fig trees. "We're very mindful of ensuring that they are protected," he said. "There's a lot of work about that given that they are not natives and I guess they are more susceptible." Moreton Bay fig trees have already been removed from Perth's Kings Park and Hyde Park as part of efforts to eradicate the borer. According to the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, there have been no confirmed detections of polyphagous shot-hole borer outside of the Perth metropolitan area. But the national biosecurity strategy to deal with the pest is currently in transition from eradication to management, in recognition that it is not possible to wipe them out. It is suspected the destructive beetle came to Rottnest Island in a batch of mulch from the mainland. All mulch is now being treated before being sent across to the island. "It's being monitored very closely, and we haven't seen any further issues, " Mr Whitby said. Trees native to Rottnest Island were already being propagated in a nursery to try and re-establish the woodland that once covered much of the island. Mr Whitby said that would continue and will be part of the re-planting of trees impacted by shot-hole borers. Mr Whity said the loss of a small number of trees to the shot hole borer would highlight the importance of the program, which was aimed at increasing the tree canopy on the island.
