Perth is rolling in money - that's where the mining industry has boomed, dragging the Australian dollar up with it. It's remote, but that doesn't mean it's poor.
Perth is wealthy, but is the money mostly poured back into mining related ventures?
Largely due to mining, Australia's average wage is around $70k but our median wage is around $45k. Pretty crazy.
It's a similar atmosphere to Texas oil culture (I hear, anyway). Lots of secessionists saying Western Australia is keeping the country afloat. This is somewhat true (but not entirely), and they tend to forget 20 years ago WA was a shitheap with nothing going for it.