Western Australia January to June 2016

The Western Australian Labor government, led by Premier Mark McGowan, faced a challenging first six months of 2018 addressing public debt within the confines of promises made during the March 2017 election campaign. Labor’s overwhelming forty-one to eighteen-seat majority in the Legislative Assembly was dented in a 23 June by-election, which occurred following Labor “rookie” Barry Urban’s resignation. Early in February the publication of a report into the political economy of the state, by former Under Treasurer John Langoulant, contributed to framing the budget delivered in May 2018. Western Australia’s poor return from the GST remained a major issue, although there appeared some hope of at least a short-term fix to this long-standing problem. Meanwhile on 21 January 2018 Premier McGowan opened the gates to the new Perth multi-purpose Optus Stadium at Burswood

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