Key Australian shipping link to Asia to be sold to reduce mounting gov't debt

The Western Australian (WA) government will sell one of Australia's main shipping links to Asia in an effort to reduce the state's mounting debt.

Fremantle port is one of many government-owned assets that could be part of the "unexpected" asset sale to help bring WA back towards a budget surplus by next election.

The Western Australian is reporting the state's busiest port and shipping gateway to Africa, the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East will be auctioned off the highest bidder once the budget is formally handed down.

Some experts have said the state-owned port could fetch anywhere from 1.6 billion U.S dollars up to 6 billion U.S dollars.

Western Australia slipped into its first budget deficit in 15 years on the back of declining iron ore prices, a cut in GST revenue, and the waning of the mining boom which proved a cash bonanza for the state.

Government spending is predicted to outweigh revenue by up to 1. 46 billion U.S dollars.

Last week, WA Premier Colin Barnett and Treasurer Mike Nahan met with Prime Minister Tony Abbott who "strongly encouraged" the state to consider selling its assets to reduce the state's rising debt.

Western Australia's TAB betting agency is expected to be part of the sell-off, after federal Finance Minister Mathias Cormann slammed the WA government by saying that it was "indefensible that (a) state government still owns a TAB."

The state would need to gain approval from the WA racing industry to sell the TAB, but if supported, the betting body could draw as much as 800 million U.S dollars.

Opposition Treasurer Ben Wyatt has told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that the government's excessive spending without thinking of consequences during the mining boom was to blame for the billion dollar deficit.

"At the end of what has been the greatest period of wealth creation in Western Australia, the Liberal Party's left us with huge deficits and high debt," he said. Endi