Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Australian Politics and Policy
However, the state’s size, population dispersion and the physical diversity of
its regions generate significant governance demands. 24 In ‘lacking economies of
scale’, the regions present ‘multiple challenges, especially in terms of inadequate
infrastructure provision and service delivery’, 25 that are not confronted by WA’s
counterparts to the same extent. 26 The WA government must spend significantly
more per capita on delivering an average level of services to ensure that all Western
Australians enjoy a comparable standard of living to their counterparts across the
federation. 27
The second factor that complicates WA’s relationship to the federation is the
‘tyranny of distance’. WA’s capital is closer to Jakarta than it is to Canberra, and
it does not share a time zone with any of its federal cousins. Easement of the
physical obstacles of distance from the eastern seaboard was slow to occur. 28 While
contemporary innovations in communication and transportation have removed the
effects of geographic isolation to a great extent, the perception that remoteness
equates to political invisibility endures.
Pre-Federation WA politicians were aware of the challenges that distance would
present for the state’s visibility in the Commonwealth. 29 Moreover, the usefulness
of the federal parliament for channelling the state’s grievances quickly proved
ineffectual. WA’s representation in the federal lower house was, as it is today,
diminutive (10 per cent of the total share) owing to its small population, while the
party politicisation of the Senate quickly extinguished its role as a genuine states’
chamber.
A third factor that challenges harmonious relations with the federation is
economic differences. From its inception, the structure of the WA economy was
24 Concerns about neglect of the regions led to the Royalties for Regions scheme in 2008. The
scheme was the result of a political bargain struck between the Nationals and the Barnett
Liberal government following the 2008 state election. Under the agreement, the Barnett
government agreed to transfer 25 per cent of all royalty payments to the state for reinvestment
into regional WA. The McGowan Labor government, elected in 2017, has retained the program
but capped annual spending at $1 billion. The McGowan government’s announcement followed
the conclusion of a special inquiry into the program which criticised it for operating outside of
the state’s budget and destabilising WA’s finances (McNeill 2018).
25 CEDA 2016, 24.
26 It was also attributed to longstanding tendencies towards ‘government driven development’, the
high point of which was the infamous ‘WA Inc.’ affair when the secretive and procedurally
suspect commercial activities of the Burke Labor government (1983–86) led to the loss of
hundreds of millions of dollars of WA taxpayers’ money. In its aftermath, the Richard Court
government embarked on reform of state utilities and government practices, ostensibly to
disrupt the longstanding public policy paradigm (Stone 1993).
27 CGC 2015, 3–4.
28 Moon and Sharman 2003, 203–4.
29 AsonememberoftheWAparliamentthenopined:‘Ouronlyconnectionwiththeother
colonies is by the intervening stormy sea, and the distance from Albany to Adelaide is the same,
some 1150 miles … We shall be situated at such a distance from the seat of Government that I
do not think we can expect that consideration for our wants and requests which we would be
entitled to’ (Parker quoted in Bolton 1993).
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