A thought experiment, not currently official Libertarian Party WA policy. This page imagines a "what if": what if the WA Government simply did nothing new for one year? No new laws or regulations, no new spending programs or announcements, the budget held flat in dollar terms, and hospitals, schools, police and other core services kept running as they are. Today's facts come from the budget papers, legislation records and reports linked below. The scenario is illustrative reasoning, not a forecast or a costing.
The better way, in plain words
In recent years the State Government has spent more, hired more and passed more laws, and each step is announced as a fix. Imagine a WA where, for one year, Parliament and Cabinet just stopped adding. Existing services carry on. Nothing new is promised, so nothing new has to be paid for. Would West Australians notice anything other than a quieter news cycle and a healthier budget?
1. Today: how fast the State is growing
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| General government expenses, 2025-26 (estimated actual) | $49,140 million |
| General government expenses, 2026-27 Budget | $52,539 million, up 6.9% |
| Expense growth in the two years before | 11.0% in 2024-25, 6.7% in 2025-26 |
| Forecast population growth plus Perth inflation, 2026-27 | 1.6% plus 3.75%, about 5.4% combined |
| Extra 2026-27 expenses added since the 2025-26 Mid-year Review | $5,239 million |
| Total public sector net debt, 30 June 2026 to 30 June 2027 | $34,484 million to $40,264 million |
Source: WA 2026-27 Budget Paper No. 3, Table 1 (key aggregates), Table 3 (variations since the Mid-year Review) and the economic forecasts table. The combined 5.4% is our own simple calculation from the Budget's forecasts.
The public sector workforce. The WA public sector employed the equivalent of 140,679 full-time staff in 2024-25 (annual average), up 7,380 (5.5%) in one year and up 21,406 (17.9%) since 2020-21. Headcount was 179,490 people. (Public Sector Commission, State of the WA Government Sector Workforce 2024-25) The 2026-27 Budget itself includes a voluntary separation scheme for up to 1,500 full-time equivalent staff. (Budget Paper No. 3)
New laws. The WA Parliament passed 34 Acts in 2023, 53 in 2024 and 22 in 2025 (an election year). Some are routine, such as the annual appropriation Acts, and some repeal or tidy up old law. (2023, 2024, 2025 Acts as passed, WA Legislation) Regulations and other subsidiary legislation are made separately by the Government, in addition to these Acts. (WA Legislation)
2. What if: one year of doing nothing new
Here is one way it could look. It is a sketch to think with, not a plan. Each "In the scenario" line is illustrative.
The budget
| Today | Expenses rise from $49,140 million to $52,539 million in 2026-27; net operating surplus $2,441 million |
|---|---|
| In the scenario (illustrative) | Expenses held at $49,140 million: about $3,399 million less spent in 2026-27. If revenue came in as budgeted, the surplus would be about $5,840 million instead of $2,441 million |
A softer version: grow only with people and prices
| Today | Expenses grow 6.9% in 2026-27 |
|---|---|
| In the scenario (illustrative) | Expenses grow only by forecast population growth and inflation (about 5.4%), to roughly $51,800 million: about $740 million less than budgeted |
Over four years
| Today | Budgeted expenses of $52,539 million, $50,626 million, $50,152 million and $50,663 million from 2026-27 to 2029-30 |
|---|---|
| In the scenario (illustrative) | Held at $49,140 million each year: about $7,420 million less spent over the four years, money that could pay down debt or come back as lower taxes |
Laws and red tape
| Today | Dozens of new Acts a year, plus new regulations |
|---|---|
| In the scenario (illustrative) | A year where the rules stand still, so households and businesses can plan without chasing changes. Only repeals and genuine emergencies go through |
Announcements
| Today | A steady stream of ministerial media statements and new programs |
|---|---|
| In the scenario (illustrative) | Agencies report on how existing services are performing instead of launching new ones |
Source for today's figures: WA 2026-27 Budget Paper No. 3, Table 1. The scenario amounts are our own subtraction from those figures and assume nothing else changes, which in real life it would.
3. Has anything like this happened?
- WA's own caretaker periods. Before every state election, the WA Government goes into "caretaker" mode: by convention it avoids major policy decisions, big contracts and significant appointments, while day-to-day government carries on. The conventions are not legally binding. (2025 Caretaker Conventions, Department of the Premier and Cabinet) Services keep running in those weeks.
- Belgium, 2010-11. After its June 2010 election, Belgium went a record 541 days without a new government. A caretaker administration with limited powers ran the country until a new government was sworn in in December 2011. (BBC News, 6 December 2011)
- The counterpoint: US shutdowns. A US shutdown is not "doing nothing new"; it is funding lapsing so that existing services stop. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the five-week partial shutdown of 2018-19 delayed about $18 billion (US) in federal spending, and that about $3 billion of lost GDP would never be recovered, with the hardest hits on federal workers whose pay was delayed and businesses that lost trade. (CBO, The Effects of the Partial Shutdown Ending in January 2019) That is why this scenario keeps core services funded.
4. Honest limits and trade-offs
- Real needs still grow. WA's population is forecast to grow 1.6% in 2026-27 and Perth prices 3.75%. (Budget Paper No. 3) A budget frozen in dollars is a real-terms cut per person, so services would have to find savings or wait lists could grow.
- Some costs rise on their own. Wage agreements already signed, interest on existing debt, and payments tied by law or contract to inflation would keep rising. A true flat budget would mean cutting elsewhere to cover them.
- Emergencies do not wait. Bushfires, floods, cyclones or a pandemic need fast spending and sometimes urgent laws. Any freeze would need an emergency exception.
- Revenue is not fixed. The surplus figures above assume revenue comes in as budgeted. Royalties swing with iron ore prices, and the Budget forecasts revenue to fall 4.7% in 2027-28. (Budget Paper No. 3, Table 1)
- Some things only governments do today. Courts, police, prisons and child protection cannot simply pause. The point of the scenario is to stop adding, not to stop these.
- A state cannot freeze everything. Commonwealth laws, federal funding agreements and local councils would carry on regardless of what WA does.
Related ideas: What if WA went it alone?, What if WA had a flat, simple state tax?, What if WA were the easiest place to build a business?, What if WA unleashed its full energy potential? and What if West Australians could use Bitcoin freely?
Reminder: this is a thought experiment, not currently official Libertarian Party WA policy. We publish it to get West Australians thinking about how much government is really needed to keep things running. Read what we are actually campaigning for on our policies page, or join us.