WA government accused of ‘financial trickery’ to hide real blow to household budgets

The Cook government has been accused of “cooking the books” and hiding the financial hit to household budgets by omitting last year’s $400 power credit from a crucial table in the budget papers.

Treasurer Rita Saffioti boasted about a 0.8 per cent, or $52, cut in government fees and charges to households, thanks in large part to the $2.80 Transperth flat fare, which the budget said would save the average household $200 a year.

According to the household fees and charges section in the budget, the total cost to households would drop from $6617 this year to $6565 in 2025-26.

A closer look at that table though reveals the government has removed mention of the $400 credit for 2024-25. This was despite the credit having been included in that column in every budget since 2023.

With the power credit included in the calculations, households are actually being slogged with a 5 per cent increase in fees and charges – or $348.

The change to the electricity charge is actually $447 or 22 per cent as opposed to the 2.5 per cent suggested in the budget.

Shadow Treasurer Sandra Brewer lashed the government for omitting its much vaunted power credit.

“To make matters worse, the Treasurer has tried to cook the books – deliberately excluding last year’s $400 electricity credit to give the illusion of a saving. It’s financial trickery, plain and simple,” she said.

“There is no $52 saving as claimed. That’s a lie. What families are actually facing is nearly $400 in extra costs – and they’re right to feel furious.

“This is a government that promised relief and delivered the opposite. They misled the public during the campaign and are now covering it up with dodgy accounting.”

Saffioti’s office said it was commonplace for “one off payments” to be removed from budget papers like the power credit because its purpose was to show the true underlying changes of household charges.

“The government could have chosen to include the WA student assistance payment in 2025-26, and based on the household model, that’s worth $400,” a spokesman said.

“But we have never included it and are not including it now.

“We’ve also not included the Federal Government’s $150 electricity credit in the model for this reason. We will continue to keep the cost of the household fees and charges as low as possible.”

The government will spend $963 million extra on cost of living support for WA households.

Saffioti pointed to items like the $150 Commonwealth-funded power credit – which doesn’t feature in this year’s budget table – and the already announced $337 million residential battery scheme as evidence it was helping address power bill prices.

On broader cost of living support, Saffioti pointed to the $89 million school assistance payment currently on offer to parents of school children.

Brewer took aim at the level of cost of living support in the budget.

“And if you don’t use public transport regularly or don’t have school-aged kids, there’s virtually nothing in this Budget to help you. For renters, mortgage holders, working families—this budget offers no real relief,” she said.