In a letter to Premier Colin Barnett, the Property Council acknowledged the difficulty of the current fiscal environment. However, the Budget failed to deliver a strategy to engage with industries, including the property sector, to keep WA growing post the mining investment boom.
As stated in the Property Council’s 2014/15 Pre-Budget Submission, bold reforms are needed to guide the economy through the transition phase of the resource sector. The opportunity to reform the Budget’s structural faults; predominately the inequitable tax system, was passed over in favour of unacceptable tax increases. The lack of direction to sustain the State’s infrastructure program beyond the completion of current projects fails to demonstrate a vision to encourage private investment. The failure to progress the highly anticipated asset recycling initiative in a meaningful manner was a further disappointment for the property sector.