LIBERAL PARTY PLAYING CATCH-UP ON WA GST, BUT FALLS WOEFULLY SHORT

Malcolm Turnbull is treating Perth and Western Australia like nothing more than a stop over from Europe with a pitiful $189 million funding announcement today, which will be the equivalent of taking WA’s GST share from 47c to 50c.

 

It’s been 173 days since Turnbull was last in Western Australia – since becoming Prime Minister he has spent more time in the United States than in the state.

 

Labor’s been leading the fight for WA to get a better deal - our $1.6 billion Fair Share for WA Fund will see the Commonwealth funding for Western Australia brought up to the equivalent of a 70 cent floor, without ripping billions of dollars of GST revenue from other states and the territories.

 

Last August, Scott Morrison attacked Labor’s Fair Share for WA Fund for seeking to “fix a problem by writing a big cheque with no clue how to pay for it”. Touché.

 

And today the Prime Minister is bowling up to Western Australia with another cheque, albeit an inadequate response to WA’s legitimate concerns over GST relativities.

 

Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison has completely mishandled this issue from the very start.

 

Firstly, Mr Morrison refused to consider or adopt Labor’s $1.6 billion Fair Share for WA Fund that would have seen Commonwealth funding for Western Australia brought up to the equivalent of a 70 cent floor, without ripping billions of dollars of GST revenue from other states and the territories, preferring instead to kick-off another review into the GST distribution formula.

 

Then Mr Morrison came charging out of the blocks in support of the Productivity Commission’s draft recommendations which would see South Australia lose $256 million and Tasmania lose $77 million in GST revenue.

 

Then after the understandable push back from Federal Labor and state and territory governments, Mr Morrison announced in early January – as Australians were enjoying the summer break – that the Productivity Commission would not provide its final report on GST distribution reform until after the May Budget.

 

All Scott Morrison has is talk and delay adding to the chaos and uncertainty of the Turnbull Government’s position on GST distribution.