WA govt expects billions from asset sales

The West Australian government says it seeks to raise $2-3 billion from its asset sales program to try to reduce mounting debt.

Treasurer Mike Nahan handed down his first budget on Thursday, which contained a raft of revenue-raising and cost-cutting measures that he described as tough but necessary as the state economy "shifts gears" from high investment levels in the resources sector to greater commodities output.

He defended a massive public infrastructure spending spree, saying it had to be done to meet significant population growth.

In 2014/15 alone, $6.7 billion will be spent on big projects, funded through debt, which will reach almost $30 billion in the outyears.

"We're going to tackle debt to some extent from asset sales," Dr Nahan told a briefing on Friday.

He said the privatisations, with surplus hospital land and the TAB betting agency among those assets on the chopping block, would be advanced cautiously. And nothing would be booked until the market made offers.

"This is no fire sale," Dr Nahan said.

The treasurer also defended a 6.6 per cent rise in household fees and charges, which has prompted howls of protest from the WA Council of Social Services and unions.

Both Dr Nahan and Premier Colin Barnett stressed the increases equated to less than $1 a day.

And while Standard and Poor's remains concerned about rising debt after that was a key reason for stripping the state of its prized AAA credit rating in September last year, Dr Nahan clung to the fact WA still had that rating with Moody's.

"We will reach a (debt) plateaux because our building will slow," he promised, but didn't provide a target date.