Liberal Leader Libby Mettam takes aim at Metronet, labels Labor ‘out of touch with reality’ in Budget reply

Liberal leader Libby Mettam has accused Labor of being “fixated” on Metronet and “out of touch with the reality of everyday West Australians” in her first major pitch to voters before the 2025 election. Attempting to turn public opinion against Metronet has emerged as a key election strategy for the Opposition, with Ms Mettam using her Budget reply to contrast the nearly $13 billion that has been ploughed into the train project against deteriorations in health, housing and community safety. Highlighting soaring ambulance ramping, emergency department waiting times, public housing applicants and reports of domestic violence, Ms Mettam said the longer Labor “continues to prioritise additional funding for Metronet over the issues that matter, the more Western Australians will turn against you”. Far from a “game-changer” pre-election budget, Ms Mettam said Treasurer Rita Saffioti’s first fiscal blueprint simply “deepened the divide between the Government’s agenda and the public’s needs”. “Violent crime in the State has hit an all-time high. Police officers are leaving in droves, feeling overwhelmed and unsupported,” she said. “The State’s hospital system is in complete disrepair… kids are waiting two years to see a paediatrician. “The social housing waitlist has grown to over 19,000 applicants, representing more than 34,000 people. “Some parents are now skipping meals to so there is enough food for their children.” Rather than demonstrating strong financial management, Ms Mettam claimed Labor had been the beneficiary of a record $58b in mining royalties and a GST fix “implemented by the Federal Liberal-National Government”. “Despite their record wealth, the Government has failed to implement anything which could be described as inspiring or game-changing,” Ms Mettam said. On the election-defining issues of cost of living and housing, Ms Mettam said the Cook Government had failed to properly plan for surging population growth — leading to “skyrocketing rental costs” — and had hiked fees and charges by $930 per household since 2017. “In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, and a housing crisis, this Government needs to stop treating WA families as cash cows,” she said. Ms Mettam’s Budget reply did not unveil any new policy but reaffirmed pledges to move a planned $1.8b maternity hospital from Murdoch back to QEII in Nedlands and re-establish a standalone Department of Child Protection. After more than a third of all murders were DV-related in WA in 2022, Ms Mettam said Labor had failed to introduce promised legislation targeting coercive control and forcing domestic violence perpetrators to wear GPS bracelets when handed bail. “We will ensure the community is safer with regards to family and domestic violence, we will pass the legislation as a priority, and require people subject to a violence restraining order to wear a tracking bracelet to keep the community safe,” Ms Mettam said. Ms Mettam said West Australians were worse off today than when Mark McGowan swept to power in 2017. “That statement isn’t an opinion, it isn’t rhetorical, and it isn’t political spin,” she said. “It’s a fact – plain and simple. “When crime is up 20 per cent, meth use 40 per cent, ambulance ramping 430 per cent, the priority housing waitlist by 230 per cent, family and domestic violence by 45 per cent — you are leaving the State worse off than when you inherited it. “Despite the myriad of challenges that need to be tackled, you remain fixated on one $13 billion project (Metronet)“. By contrast, Ms Mettam pledged a Liberal Government would “get the priorities of Western Australians right”. “We will fix the hospital crisis, back our police officers, manage debt, give our children access to vital health services, clear the backlog of major project approvals, lift the handbrake on job creation, build the houses we need, and do something meaningful to address the cost-of-living crisis,” she said. “WA Deserve Better isn’t just a campaign slogan — it’s a clear message that only a Liberal Government will see real progress in addressing the challenges faced by Western Australian families.”