Rita Saffioti

Rita Saffioti (born 26 May 1972) is an Australian politician. Representing the Australian Labor Party, she has been the member for the electoral district of West Swan in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Western Australia, since 6 September 2008. She is currently serving as the Deputy Premier of Western Australia, the Treasurer of Western Australia, the Minister for Transport, and the Minister for Sport and Recreation under premier Roger Cook.

Early life and career Saffioti was born on 26 May 1972 in Perth, Western Australia, to Nicodemo Saffioti, an orchardist, and Giuseppina Ienco, a cook's assistant. Saffioti's parents were post-war immigrants from the Italian region of Calabria. and from 1997, she worked as an economics adviser for Geoff Gallop, the leader of the opposition until 2001 and Premier of Western Australia following 2001. From February 2003 to February 2005, Saffioti was the director of the economics policy unit of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet. From February 2005 to January 2006, she was a strategic management advisor for the Office of the Premier. In January 2006, Alan Carpenter replaced Gallop as the premier. From January 2006 to April 2008, Saffioti was the chief of staff for the Office of the Premier. Following her preselection for the electoral district of West Swan, she worked as a strategic consultant for the Fremantle Football Club from April to July 2008. She won preselection for West Swan in April 2008, with Carpenter controversially hand-picking her over Swan Hills MP Jaye Radisich and the Labor Right's Belinda Coniglio. At the 2008 Western Australian state election on 6 September, Saffioti was elected to the newly created electoral district of West Swan in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Western Australia. She was re-elected at the elections in 2013, 2017 and 2021.

From 9 April 2013 to 26 June 2015, Saffioti was the shadow minister for planning, finance, government accountability and women's interests. From 26 June 2015 to 11 March 2017, she was the shadow minister for planning, finance, transport and infrastructure. Following the 2021 election, on 19 March 2021, Saffioti became the minister for ports, as well as keeping her existing ministries.

As the minister for transport and minister for planning, Saffioti has control over Metronet. Under Metronet, construction started on the Morley–Ellenbrook line (now known as the Ellenbrook line, an extension of the Joondalup line (now known as the Yanchep line) to Yanchep, an extension of the Armadale line to Byford, an extension of the Thornlie line to Cockburn Central on the Mandurah line, a new station at Lakelands on the Mandurah line, a rebuild of Bayswater station, Claremont station and Midland station, and the removal of several level crossings along the Armadale/Thornlie lines and Midland line. Railcar manufacturing was also brought back into Western Australia for the first time since the 1990s, with the Transperth C-series trains being manufactured in Bellevue, Western Australia. During the 2017 election campaign, Saffioti promised that all Metronet stage 1 projects would be finished within eight years.

Following Mark McGowan's announcement on 29 May 2023 of his imminent resignation as premier and Labor leader, Saffioti entered the ensuing leadership ballot as one of three candidates. As the left faction has a strong position within the Labor Party's caucus, the position was likely to go to a left-aligned candidate such as Roger Cook or Amber-Jade Sanderson rather than the unaligned Saffioti. Polling conducted in January 2023 by Painted Dog Research for The West Australian showed that Saffioti was favoured by 13 percent of voters to succeed McGowan if he were to retire, behind Cook at 15 percent but above Sanderson at 6 percent. The Labor Party formally elected her as deputy leader on 6 June 2023.

The Cook ministry was sworn in on 8 June 2023. Saffioti was installed as the deputy premier of Western Australia, treasurer, and minister for tourism, while staying on as transport minister and relinquishing the roles of minister for planning and minister for ports. Some people, including deputy Liberal Party leader Steve Thomas expressed concern about the high workload placed on Saffioti, although ministers have previously had similar portfolios, most recently when Troy Buswell was treasurer, minister for transport, minister for housing, and minister for emergency services in the Barnett ministry.

In the 2025 Western Australian state election, she was re-elected.

Political views Saffioti is one of four Labor MPs in state parliament that is not factionally aligned as of 2025. In 2010, she spoke out against parliament rules which prohibited her from taking her baby into the chamber. Saffioti is Catholic. She supports the Fremantle Football Club.