Boom Bust Cycle Creates Opportunities

The Chinese character for the word crisis is made up of two symbols, the first means danger, the second opportunity. The Western Australian State budget is reaching a crisis point, with the AAA credit rating sailing off over the horizon, debt growing and interest costs mounting. The opportunity from this crisis is to rethink future budget priorities.

The Government’s deficit and projected $41 billion debt won’t be fixed by selling state assets nor by cutting back public infrastructure. It will be fixed by sustained work to reduce day to day costs of providing public services and growing the economy to generate a healthy operating surplus.

While this work is being done, the opportunity is to develop a new program of infrastructure projects. As the Chinese have shown, state infrastructure, well provided, is the basis on which the economy successfully grows. Locally, hospitals, schools, public spaces and the major stadium have been the focus in recent years.