Royalties for Regions (RfR) began in 2008. It is popular in the bush and often criticised in Perth. This page looks at what it actually pays for, using the budget papers and the Auditor General.
Key findings
1. About $1 billion a year, set by formula
- Fact: The Royalties for Regions Fund receives 25% of the State's royalty income, with the balance capped at $1 billion. The 2026-27 Budget plans $4 billion of RfR spending over four years, including $1,236.9 million in 2026-27.
Source: 2026-27 Budget Paper 3, Chapter 7, Table 1 and Table 5.18
2. In 2017 the fund took over $861 million of existing services
- Fact: The 2017-18 Budget speech said a review "resulted in $861 million of regional programs, which were previously centrally funded, now being supported through Royalties for Regions", including the Patient Assisted Travel Scheme and the subsidy that keeps country water prices in line with Perth.
- Our read: this kept the RfR name, but turned much of it into a way to pay for ordinary government services.
Source: 2017-18 Budget Speech, pp.9-10
3. Today it pays for school buses, training and teaching staff
- Fact: Among the largest items in the 2026-27 RfR program are regional school bus services ($82.4 million a year), Vocational Education Regional Subsidies ($45.4 million a year), the Regional Airfare Zone Cap ($35.6 million) and "Put Education Assistants Back in the Classroom" ($9.1 million a year). Administration of the fund costs $67.8 million in 2026-27.
Source: 2026-27 Budget Paper 3, Chapter 7, Table 1
4. Hundreds of millions are allocated but not spent on time
- Fact: The RfR table includes an "Overprogramming Provision" of minus $313.4 million in 2025-26, an allowance for money budgeted to projects that will not be spent in the year.
Source: 2026-27 Budget Paper 3, Chapter 7, Table 1
5. The Auditor General found outcomes were "not always clear"
- Fact: In a 2014 audit of 16 projects, the Auditor General found that "the outcomes and benefits these projects intended to deliver was not always clear", that projects were "still being funded for the delivery of a physical product", and raised concerns about funding "without long term viability being a key consideration".
Source: Auditor General, Royalties for Regions: are benefits being realised?, Report 13, 2014
6. No breakdown by electorate
- Fact: The budget papers list RfR spending by project and region, not by electoral district.
- Our read: without that, the public cannot test whether the money follows need or follows marginal seats.
What could change
- Publish every RfR project with its location, electorate, cost, business case and evaluation.
- Fund core services such as school buses from the general budget, and say so openly.
- Require an independent evaluation of every project over $5 million.