The Nationals WA have a plan to tackle cost-of-living, and it doesn’t involve sugar-hit handouts and free zoo tickets, it includes long term reforms and determination to change our trajectory.
Housing, healthcare, food security and keeping the lights on, all key factors which make up our experience of tough cost of living conditions. We can address this crisis, piece by piece.
By prioritising stabilising the housing market; increasing supply and making it easier to build a home, we can alleviate the pressure on families struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Some WA families are paying a mortgage on concrete pads, paying rent while waiting years for their home to be built. This has spiraled out of control under Labor, who have refused to prioritise housing over vanity projects like a pedestrian footbridge or a trainline to nowhere.
Healthcare should be accessible and dependable. Families are waiting years to get their children into specialist appointments or paying thousands in travel for crucial services. Making services accessible, or available close to home, can drastically cut prohibitive costs and lessen the burden on the family. Not having to take time off work to travel thousands of kilometres for a check-up can make the difference for a family managing health concerns.
Supporting our services, such as Foodbank and Anglicare is a key party of the picture in tackling this crisis. Did you know that in WA 370,000 homes experienced food insecurity in 2024? In a State so rich as ours, no child should be going to school hungry. Supporting programs such as Foodbank’s School Breakfast Program is one way The Nationals will help.
It is becoming harder and harder to keep the lights on, not just because of Labor’s dodgy network, but because every year they are passing increasing costs onto families. Giving handouts while increasing the base price of power isn’t just disingenuous, but inflationary. Building handouts into the system and refusing to moderate who does and does not need the support is one way to drive the cost of the whole system up. We think sugar-hit handouts aren’t what WA families need. They need a reliable connection with predictable bills, so everyone can manage their home budget with confidence.
There is no single fix for this cost-of-living crisis, but WA families don’t expect a quick fix. Just as the pressures are varied so too are the solutions, and tackling policy challenges across the whole of Government is one way to address the pressure, bit by bit.
