Payroll tax reform, investment in energy and innovation, and a bid to host World Expo 2040 are among seven big ideas in our 2027-28 State Pre-Budget Submission.
The submission sets out 62 recommendations across five focus areas: growing WA industry, keeping costs low, reasonable regulation, ensuring skilled workforces, and regions and communities.
These aim to address barriers to business growth while building WA’s capacity to attract investment, develop new industries and create jobs.
Growing WA industry
For the Government to realise its ambitious Made in WA and Diversify WA strategies, a supportive business environment is critical for growth.
To achieve this, we propose:
- A turbocharged innovation package including a standalone challenge program to address industry’s ‘wicked problems’ and a new applied research and development model inspired by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institutes.
- Accelerating plans for a defence innovation precinct in Rockingham, explore UK partnerships in defence and advanced manufacturing, and a new CBD home for Scitech.
- Bidding for World Expo 2040 to promote Perth as a gateway to Asia and highlight the city’s history and geography.
“Hosting World Expo 2040 would be a once-in-a-generation opportunity to showcase Perth as the gateway to the Indo-Pacific region and position the city as a globally connected and economically dynamic capital,” said CCIWA Chief Economist Dr Daniel Kiely.
“The most recent World Expo in Osaka in Japan delivered hundreds of millions of dollars in direct economic benefits.”
The submission also calls for Sunday trading reform to support retailers and improve choice for consumers.
“Consumers want more choice and our businesses are up against online competitors who can open 24/7,” Kiely said.
Keeping costs low
Changes to payroll tax and investment in energy are priority areas that would improve WA’s business competitiveness.
We recommend that the payroll tax threshold be increased from $1 million to $1.3m for metropolitan businesses and $1.5m for regional businesses, with annual increases linked to wage price inflation.
“We know bracket creep is a real issue for WA businesses,” Kiely said.
“Some small businesses have been tipped into payroll tax liability simply because their wage costs have gone up, not because they’re hiring more people.”
Other key tax reforms that would support business and the economy include continued advocacy for the GST safety net to provide certainty for WA’s budget and support critical projects and services. We also support a Grow WA Tax Summit in 2027 to help guide broader tax reform.
On energy, we’re calling for clear funding pathways to support the Future Energy Systems Outlook, faster connections and investment in gas generation and battery storage to support affordable, reliable supply.
We also support a dedicated Minister for Cost of Living and Doing Business, expanding WACOSS’s proposed cost-of-living portfolio to included pressures facing small and medium-sized businesses.
Reasonable regulation
We’re calling for the development of a world-leading regulatory stewardship framework to bring government and industry together to improve how regulation is designed, administered and reviewed.
This would establish clear principles for regulators, including proportionality, evidence-based decisions and flexibility, supported by regular industry feedback.
Our recommendations include real-time tracking of approval timeframes and continued reform of approval processes, giving businesses greater transparency and certainty when investing.
Ensuring skilled workforces
Growing the skills pipeline is another priority; we’re calling for more investment in apprenticeship and traineeship support.
We suggest using Apprentice Connect Providers to assess eligibility for State and industry incentive programs, streamlining access and complementing Federal support.
“We’ve seen a decline in completion rates for apprenticeships and traineeships, which reflects the need to improve incentives for both employers and apprentices,” Kiely said.
“If WA is going to deliver the infrastructure we need to grow our economy, including things like housing and the AUKUS project, we need the right local workforce to do it.”
We also recommend stronger employer incentives, support to upskill trade-qualified employees as trainers, skilled migration and greater workforce participation.
Regions and communities
To support infrastructure development in regional WA, we propose expanding the State Government’s Seven Cities vision to include Carnarvon, Northam and Mandurah.
A Northern WA housing strategy would help address supply pressures in the Gascoyne, Pilbara and Kimberley.
“There’s significant untapped potential in regional WA to bring in investment and business development, but we need to get the fundamentals right,” Kiely said.
“We’ve made a suite of recommendations to make regional WA a more attractive place to live, better for business and better connected to big economic opportunities.”
Read our full 2027-28 Pre-Budget Submission for all recommendations.
