With the median house price in Westminster a cool $40k higher than their former bedfellow Balga, you can see why residents near the Balga/Westminster border want a slice of that suburb’s name.
See, in 1995 the entire social fabric of Balga got torn apart by a request by the residents in the southern part to go back to the original estate name of Westminster before the residential subdivision.
It also probably helped that at the time, Balga was the go-to suburb of ridicule. A title that Armadale, Rockingham & Midland compete for every day of the week.
Nevertheless, it seems the rebrand was successful and it has Southern Balga residents thinking – why not us too? An extra $40k on the sale price ain’t nothing to sneeze at, after all.
We spoke to a Balga resident who was pushing The City of Stirling to initiate the change, they told The Times,
“$40k median house price difference for the same fkn suburb? I’m being financially discriminated against because my burb is Balga and not Westminster. All we ask is to join Westminster in their property price supremacy”
However, not everyone in Balga is convinced that the change will be beneficial. A resident told The Times,
“Westminster is gentrified trash. You just wait, all the young families priced out of Westminster will come north to Balga. We will reign supreme again”
A WA Government Minister said they “didn’t give a shit” adding,
“Have you seen the state of suburbs in Perth? We don’t care. Add one, lose one, whatever, just don’t bother us about it. Seriously, sort your shit out”\
Documenting the Human Zoo is thirsty work, so if you enjoyed what you read how about buying Belle a beer, ay?
