Why has the South West received $1 billion less in regional funding in the past eight years than the Pilbara?
This question was put to key politicians with figures from the Department of Regional Development showing the South West received $532.7 million in RfR investment between 2008 and 2016.
With an estimated population of 175,949 people, this is $3,028 per person.
The Pilbara received $1.69 billion, or $25,675 per person. Only Peel had a lower per capita spend than the South West.
Collie-Preston MLA Mick Murray said the government must explain to Collie how it has been allowed to get away with such a “rip-off”.
“These figures are absolutely damning and show once and for all that the Liberals and the Nationals do not care about Collie,” he said.
“Collie and the South West have contributed so much of that money over the years from our mining but we have to sit back and watch it travel to other parts of the state.
“Royalties for Regions is a great program but the funding needs to be fairly distributed throughout the state.”
Minister for Regional Development Terry Redman said Royalties for Regions was created to address years of chronic neglect across all regional areas of the state, but that neglect was most severe in the north of the state.
“The vastness of our state represents a huge challenge in delivering services, infrastructure and opportunity to all residents and it is a challenge this government does not shy away from,” he said.
“The South West has benefited from significant RfR investment since 2008 with the $600m Growing Our South initiative.”
Liberal candidate for Collie-Preston Elysia Harverson said under Labor regional WA was neglected on a wholesale scale.
"The Liberals and Nationals Royalties for Regions program has gone a long way to fix that but there is more to be done," she said.
Nationals candidate for Collie-Preston Monique Warnock said when Labor was last in government in 2008, it had little more than $58 million allocated over the four years of forward estimates for regional development.
"There was a lot of work to do in the Pilbara after years of neglect under the previous Labor Government and the South West has received more than $500 million in Royalties for Regions since 2008,” she said.
