Whatever Labor can do, the Liberals say they’ll do cheaper

Mr Kirkup said he still planned to deliver budget surpluses, would not sell government assets such as Western Power and hinted at broader economic reform after he was asked about whether payroll tax and stamp duty changes were in the works.

“These are all parts of the fundamental economic reform that we need to undertake here in WA and it is the Liberal Party’s plan to make sure we deliver lower taxes than ever before and certainly lower taxes than what we have under the Labor Party,” he said.

“We will be announcing a suite of economic policies over the coming days but every single part of it will be solely fixed on the idea that we create 200,000 new jobs in WA.”

So far 30,000 of those jobs will be made up of 20,000 new apprenticeships supported by $10,000 grants and a further 10,000 jobs to be created out of the Liberal’s favourite infrastructure project Roe 8-9.

To get the Roe extension back on the agenda, however, the Liberals will need to gain control of both houses of parliament to reverse Labor’s rezoning of some land, where the future road would run, into A-class nature reserve.

With 170,000 jobs left to create over five years the promise starts sounding similar to the McGowan Government’s pledge in February last year to generate 150,000 jobs also over five years.

Labor dropped the pledge with the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic and October’s budget offered diminishing employment growth with an estimated 2.25 per cent increase in 2021-22 before a steady drop.

Mr Kirkup says the Liberal modelling is based off a projection of annual employment growth of 2.75 per cent built of its soon-to-be-released policies.

A diversified economy sounds good but an alternative to the resources and iron ore exports that keeps WA and the nation afloat will not come about in the short-term.

Mr Kirkup’s job pledge might not sound as impressive come the mid-year budget review, with Treasurer Ben Wyatt expecting more “buoyant” employment projections given the October budget had been based around August labour data.

“We certainly expect a very different growth potential around jobs,” he said.

“Nearly 90 per cent of jobs lost during the coronavirus restrictions are now back.

“We have 63,000 jobs more than when we came into government in 2017.”

Mr Wyatt was scathing of the Liberal’s flagship policy for jobs growth, given its lack of explanation as to how they would reach their target.

“Ultimately you can promise what the economy will deliver but that’s got nothing to do with Mr Kirkup and his efforts,” he said.

“You can’t just turn up in a magic school bus, make up a number with no idea of how to deliver one single job.”

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Mr Kirkup conversely says Labor has no economic plan for coming out of COVID-19.

That message will be hard to put up against Labor’s $5.5 billion recovery plan it has been pseudo-campaigning on for the past few months as well as the government’s border response.

Mr Kirkup is trying hard to make the borders a non-issue but Labor has already shown how ready it is to go back and shine a light on the sporadic approach the opposition took on the matter for most of the year.

Mr Kirkup, 33, has also stated the Liberals would look to attract more innovative industries and start-ups.

What he eventually releases in terms of a policy around technology could get some attention amongst younger voters and provide contrast to Mr McGowan, who was stumped by a question on data science at CEDA’s State of the State event on Wednesday.

The Premier was asked about what should be done to accelerate the use of data science and big data to strengthen WA’s economy, but Mr McGowan said he did “not understand the question”.

Big data will not decide the election, however, and it’s the simple message of “we’ll do it cheaper” that the Liberals hope will save their existing seats or at least not see them go backwards on polling day.

Offering a lower cost of living is nothing to sneeze at either when families are coming out of the very real economic hardships still wrought by COVID-19 in WA despite how much quicker the state came out of the lock-down compared to its neighbours.