West Australian Government is increasingly relying on one-off payments and short-term schemes that make for great headlines but do very little to address the root causes of the problems they claim to tackle. In the past few months, we’ve seen:

• Cash handouts to senior citizens.
• The Treebate initiative — a rebate for planting trees in private yards.
• A 20% HECS-HELP debt reduction — but only for current students, leaving past and futuer graduates out in the cold.
• Even whispers of bringing back the Baby Bonus.

At first glance, these might sound generous. Who doesn’t like “free money”? But the reality is, these are political dopamine hits — designed to give voters a short-term feel-good moment — not long-term solutions to systemic issues.

1. Senior Citizens & the Cost-of-Living Crisis

A one-off payment to seniors might help cover a week or two of groceries or a power bill, but it does nothing to address why those bills are so high in the first place. The cost-of-living crisis isn’t about a single bad month; it’s about wages lagging behind inflation, skyrocketing rents, and essential services becoming unaffordable. Instead of throwing money at the problem for a quick photo op, the government could:

• Increase and index the pension to actual living costs
• Invest in public housing to bring down rents
• Regulate essential service providers to curb price gouging

2. Treebate & Climate Change

Yes, more trees are good. But paying people to plant a few in their backyards is hardly a climate strategy. Climate change is a massive, urgent crisis — and a tokenistic “Treebate” won’t offset emissions from WA’s fossil fuel-heavy economy. If the government is serious, it should:

• Transition away from fossil fuel projects, especially gas
• Fund large-scale reforestation and urban canopy expansion in public spaces
• Invest in renewable energy infrastructure and climate resilience

3. The 20% HECS Reduction — But Only for Some

Offering a HECS discount to current students is nice, but it creates an arbitrary line between who “deserves” relief and who doesn’t. Someone who graduated last year is just as burdened by student debt as someone still studying now. This kind of policy is more about rewarding a convenient voter segment than fixing the crushing debt problem. A fairer approach would be:

• Apply debt relief across all graduates
• Freeze indexation of HECS debts in line with wages
• Reconsider university funding models to reduce reliance on student debt in the first place

4. The Baby Bonus — Nostalgia Over Necessity

The Baby Bonus was scrapped for a reason: it’s an expensive way to do very little. While it may encourage some families to have children, it doesn’t address the real barriers to raising kids today — housing affordability, childcare costs, and job security. If family growth is the goal, then:

• Make childcare universally affordable
• Introduce genuine parental leave equality
• Ensure housing is affordable for young families

The Bigger Picture

All these schemes have one thing in common: they’re short-term fixes dressed up as policy. They don’t create lasting change, they don’t fix structural problems, and they certainly don’t match the scale of the crises we’re facing. WA deserves a government willing to take on the hard, sometimes unpopular work of reform — not one that hands out cash for quick applause. Until that happens, we’ll keep getting these sugar hits while the real problems deepen.