State Budget 2026-27: Roe MLA Peter Rundle slams ‘disappointing’ Budget as key projects miss out on funding

Roe MLA Peter Rundle has labelled the State Budget “disappointing” for regional communities, saying key projects across his electorate had again missed out on funding.

Regional housing shortages, emergency service upgrades, health treatment facilities and sporting infrastructure were among the priorities Mr Rundle said needed greater attention, arguing country communities continued to be overlooked.

“I feel disappointed and I don’t think it delivers too much at all for our electorate,” he said.

“As far as Roe itself, I think its pretty thin on the ground.

“It’s the city-country divide which has been demonstrated through the State Budget.”

Mr Rundle said a number of projects he had been advocating for had failed to secure support, including an MRI machine for Esperance and a CT scanner for Katanning.

“They’re big things that make a difference to regional people,” he said.

“If you have a stroke around the Katanning region you can’t get straight in there and have a CT scan and urgent treatment — at the moment you have to go to Narrogin or Albany.

“It’s not a massive expense when you compare it to a lot of other things — I’ll keep persevering on those with the minister.”

Mr Rundle also pointed to emergency service precincts as another major omission from the Budget, saying the projects had become increasingly important following a severe bushfire season across the south coast.

“I think these emergency service precincts are more important than ever,” he said.

“We’ve seen the likes of the Fitzgerald River National Park, losing 170,000ha to two thirds of the park burnt to the ground over the summer.

“That’s (emergency services and fire mitigation) on the top of the list, and Narrogin has a project similar to it as well to amalgamate the emergency services together in one location.”

Sporting infrastructure was another area Mr Rundle believed had been overlooked, with upgrades to the Narrogin Hawks Football Pavilion among the projects that failed to receive funding.

Mr Rundle said sport remained one of the most important parts of country life and played a major role in keeping regional communities connected.

“Sport and sporting infrastructure is so important to the fabric of regional towns, that’s what keeps our regional towns going — the sport,” he said.

That one’s well and truly long overdue.

Housing shortages across the regions also remained a key concern, particularly the lack of government regional officer housing in smaller towns.

Mr Rundle said a proposal for a single GROH home in Munglinup had still not received funding despite support from the local shire.

“In Munglinup, we’re looking for one GROH house for the principal of the school to save them driving hundreds of kilometres,” he said.

“The shire has donated the block and said they will do the earthworks but they (the government) still can’t seem to find the money to build one house,” he said.

Despite his criticism, Mr Rundle acknowledged there were still some positives delivered through the Budget, particularly aimed at turf clubs and other measures put in place to ease the cost-of-living pressures.

“The one thing I did notice was some of the regional turf and trotting clubs appear to have some funding, which is good to keep up their infrastructure,” he said.

“There’s obviously things like the $100 payment which can be used for fuel or other expenses and a couple of other positives like the regional airfare zone cap, continuation of kids sport and some other of those things that are general right around the State.”