Rita Saffioti controls the purse strings, the infrastructure and increasingly the future of this state

Good morning and welcome to this special post-Budget breakfast.

We are very lucky to have Rita Saffioti here this morning.

It isn’t always easy to convince Rita to do media events like this. She would much prefer to spend the morning on a Metronet platform somewhere arguing with Geof Parry and Jess Page about empty trains.

But here she is, fronting up ready to go just a day after delivering yet another big spending budget.

Thank you Rita, if you all lift up your plate, you will find $100 – use it wisely, it will cost you a lot more in the end.

In fact looking at the cars out the front many of you spent the $100 just getting here this morning.

We are living in very strange times.

Politics has been flipped on its head.

It’s now popular to be perverse.

And we are trapped in a Covid-era calamity, known as ‘cost of living relief’.

Commentators insist on it, and fearful politicians happily oblige.

It’s become the political equivalent of eating cake to lose weight.

Governments, including this one, think the answer to rising cost of living is to spend more money.

It’s beautifully circular logic: Spend more money to soaring fix inflation directly caused by spending too much money.

Treasurers used to fight inflation, now they fund it and dress it up as compassion.

Cost of living relief simply means giving inflation a bigger budget.

If spending fixed inflation, Jim Chalmers and our state treasurer would win the Nobel Prize for economics.

But forget about Jim, we are here for Rita this morning.

It’s impossible to think about Rita Saffioti and not talk about footy.

Our Treasurer is a mad Dockers fan.

In fact, Rita does remind me a lot of the Dockers,

She shares a lot of their characteristics and traits.

Even the coach like Roger is a nice guy, but not hugely inspiring.

Does he even want to be there?

Like Rita, the Dockers do turn up every week.

They try hard, they have a crack.

They’re workman like, not flashy.

But do they have enough fans to will them on to ultimate success?

Like Rita they will be haunted by that cross town rival – with more supporters in the partyroom.

But the Dockers do grind it out each week.

In politics like football that usually leads to success.

So maybe one day the Dockers will win a flag and Rita will also realise her dream … and become premier.

She will have to get past her nemesis though … and then take on Basil Zempilas.

Basil will have his own challenges.

He has taken aim at one of Rita’s pet projects: the big V8 circuit next door, Perth Park. Rita is now trying to convince everyone that it’s not a race track but an ampitheatre.

As challenging/problematic as that might be for Rita, it’s a far bigger problem for Basil, not because Rita is a formidable opponent, but because Maryna Fewster is the no.1 ticket holder in the Perth Park fan club.

Rita is one thing, Basil, but taking on Maryna could well be the dumbest, most shortsighted thing you will ever do, you don’t have to read the east coast newspapers lately to work that out.

Rita does have a lot of pet projects, all of them, for the benefit our great state, of course.

The one that screams Perth the most though?

Italian soccer.

I’m not sure if sarcasm lands here, but whenever I get a coffee on a Monday morning these days, no one is talking about Harley Reid or Josh Treacy any more.

Everywhere I go … it’s AC Milan and Roma.

Oh and lots of chat about who will be signed as the centre half back for the Perth Bears .

Only soccer loving Rita and rugby loving Roger could sit at a packed derby at Optus Stadium, filled with crazed footy fans, and think, you know what this place needs? Rugby league and Juventis.

The long term economic plan appears to be tourism, trains and teaching Perth what offside means.

That’s the beauty of being in power - you can do, and fund, whatever the hell you like.

However, we do you have to applaud Rita’s commitment to trains.

Budgets are about priorities. This one is about persistence.

Because if at first you don’t deliver Metronet, then fund it, and fund it again.

And if that doesn’t work, make it free on Sundays.

Because nothing says world class infrastructure like having to bribe people to use it.

It’s Perth. We prefer being stuck in traffic, even if diesel is 3 bucks a litre, sitting in our Hilux or Prado ready to hit the accelerator to race through those onramp lights, before they suddenly turn red again.

In WA politics, there are two certainties, iron ore, and another Metronet announcement.

It is true, Metronet is designed for future generations. This is exactly the visionary policies we cry out for.

Like Metronet, you get the feeling that Rita Saffioti is a complicated but magnificent work in progress.

Difference being, at least Rita seems to be actually going somewhere.

But right now, mostly importantly, Rita is hitting her key Cabinet KPIs - five social media posts a day.

We will see today that Rita Saffioti controls the purse strings, the infrastructure and increasingly the future of this state.

If it’s being built, funded or announced, it probably has her name on it.

And if it doesn’t there is always next year’s Budget.

Thank you for joining us, enjoy your morning.