WA State Budget 2021: How Mark McGowan’s Budget result could help Scott Morrison’s re-election hopes

If Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg hadn’t been celebrating his wife Aimee’s birthday tonight, no doubt he would have been poring over the WA State Budget, rubbing his hands together on the possibilities for what it meant federally. Speculation over when a Federal election will be held has been bumping around, based on border battles, Scott Morrison’s tanking popularity and continued vaccine mistakes. Some believed the Coalition wouldn’t do another Federal Budget before voters decided if they would get another term in office. But now with difficulties over the vaccine rollout and the Prime Minister’s latest upset over a Father’s Day trip to Sydney, the Coalition will likely be waiting as long as possible before it goes to an election. Not to mention campaigning on the ground will be near impossible if borders remain closed until April. But today’s State Budget with a surplus of $5.6 billion and a 25 per cent growth in revenue, largely due to the bumper iron ore price, will have Frydenberg seriously considering the political and economic benefit of doing his own Federal Budget before an election. In 2019 — the year of miracles for the Coalition — Frydenberg handed down his first budget outside of the normal May schedule. The budget was handed down in April before a May election. It gave the Coalition a competitive advantage to have something positive to talk about and a clear fiscal blueprint to do so. With iron ore prices remaining much higher than what was forecast in this year’s Budget and the strong WA result today, following that same 2019 playbook could be the ticket to giving the Coalition some hope for another Federal win. Frydenberg, like McGowan, could post a hugely positive result off the back of the rich red ore dug up from our State. More money could go into hospitals, like McGowan did today, and more money could go into building things to get voters onside. Today’s State Budget not only pumps up McGowan but it may give Morrison and Frydenberg the blueprint for a shot at election gold.