WA treasurer doesn't rule out gold hike

West Australian Treasurer Ben Wyatt has not ruled out eventually reviving plans to increase gold royalty rates, a key revenue-raising plan in his first budget that was shot down.

The industry fiercely campaigned against the hike and the plan was ultimately scuppered by the Nationals and the Liberals.

The gold price has since risen by about $142 an ounce and Mr Wyatt says the current royalty rate remains inappropriate, adding the potential for a rate increase is "still there".

"It's not something that I'm going to reintroduce into the parliament and get beaten up again ... but it's there and I'm willing to have that conversation," Mr Wyatt told a business function in Perth on Friday.

He said some of the arguments that were made against the increase were not correct and he was happy to keep debating it.

Mr Wyatt also embraced the blunt assessment his second budget was dull, saying "boring is the new black".

The centrepiece of the budget is an ambitious target to slash expense growth to 0.9 per cent next financial year, in a bid to return the debt-laden state to surplus in 2020/21.

The Barnett government averaged spending growth of 6.3 per cent per year over eight-and-a-half years and Mr Wyatt said he was dealing with the long-term consequences of the debt racked up then.

"I get the plan is boring ... but the plan is the reality. You get your cost structures under control and reduce your debt over time.

"I think most Western Australians understand that."