Overview
The State Government has funding for a range of upgrades and investments to community infrastructure across the State. This includes $67 million to upgrade local court facilities in targeted areas and $30 million to upgrade women’s sporting facilities, including $6 million to establish a ‘Boosting Women and Girls Participation in Sport’ grant program.
Connectivity is a theme within the Budget, with funding for telecommunication, power, airfares and freight, including:
- $8 million (funded by the Commonwealth Government) to pilot improved multi-carrier mobile telephone coverage along regional highways under the Regional Roads Australia Mobile Program
- A $2 million Telecommunications Resilience Pilot Program (also funded by the Commonwealth) to improve mobile telecommunications resilience during power outages by providing generators and automatic transfer units at prioritised sites in the Wheatbelt and Western Goldfields
- $4 million for the Regional Airfare Zone Cap scheme and $3.5 million of additional expenditure to further support the Inter-Regional Flight Network to improve access for regional communities across the State and provide cost of living support
- $148.1 million for Western Power to deliver underground power projects in Doubleview, Bassendean, North Melville, Willagee, South Perth, Kensington, North Perth and Mount Hawthorn. These projects are partly funded by Local Governments and delivered through several funding programs.
WALGA Comment
While WALGA welcomes an increase in funding for community infrastructure, it was disappointing that the Budget missed the opportunity to commit to sustainable, ongoing, statewide, grassroots infrastructure, focusing instead on one-off capital investments.
The 2025-26 Budget makes no reference to the $30 million Creative WA arts and culture infrastructure grants program, which was announced as a three-year initiative. The absence of this program raises questions about the State Government’s commitment to supporting vital cultural infrastructure across WA.
The halving of the annual State contribution to the Community Sporting and Recreation Facilities Fund (CSRFF) to $12 million significantly undermines Local Governments’ ability to deliver vital community sporting infrastructure, in the face of increased construction costs. Sustained investment is essential to support the health and wellbeing of Western Australia’s growing population.
Disappointingly, the Budget did not include a commitment to ongoing funding for retrofitting of universally accessible community infrastructure, to align with State access and inclusion priorities.
