Western Australian Premier Roger Cook has labelled the authors of an explosive report into a GST distribution deal as "east-coast clowns".<\/p>\n
WA was the only state to benefit from the changes, the report found, with the Productivity Commission saying the state received more GST revenue than it needed in 2024-25.<\/p>\n
Prominent federal Liberal politicians from WA say they will hold Anthony Albanese to his promise to protect the deal.<\/p>\n
Western Australia's premier Roger Cook has lashed out at "east-coast clowns" \u2014 the people who authored an explosive report into GST distribution \u2014 and branded it an "attack" on Western Australians.<\/p>\n
Western Australia was the only state or territory to benefit from the 2018 changes to how the goods and services tax is carved up, according to a new interim report by the Productivity Commission on the reforms.<\/p>\n
The GST distribution is supposed to help each state and territory provide services and infrastructure to the same standard.<\/p>\n
The interim report said WA received enough GST revenue to meet 113 per cent of its assessed fiscal needs in 2024-25, compared with 98 per cent for other states.<\/p>\n
But the federal government topped up the remaining 2 per cent.<\/p>\n
An angry Mr Cook said any changes to the GST distribution would unfairly punish WA for its success "simply to prop up other lazy states".<\/p>\n
The WA premier argued that Western Australia and its mining industry prop up the rest of the country. (ABC News: Benjamin Gubana)<\/p>\n
He said the Productivity Commission's report was "an attack on every hard-working Western Australian".<\/p>\n
The report said WA's mining boom increased the state's capacity to fund itself, meaning it received less GST, while the GST formula also left WA short during periods of volatility, for example, when mining royalties fell after the global financial crisis.<\/p>\n
"This produced a sentiment among many Western Australians that the state was 'losing' its revenue," the commission's interim report said.<\/p>\n
The interim report found WA had more money than was needed as part of the deal. (AAP: Joel Carrett\u00a0)<\/p>\n
The commission said political pressure from the WA government at the time partially influenced the 2018 reforms.<\/p>\n