WA Premier Mark McGowan urged to support GST carve-up changes
Updated
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has challenged new West Australian Premier Mark McGowan to support changes to the GST carve-up.
Last year, Mr Turnbull told a Liberal Party conference he supported putting a floor under the GST distribution once Western Australia's share increased to about 70 per cent of its state takings.
Mr Turnbull said he wrote to all state and territory leaders canvassing the proposal, which he predicted would take effect in about 2019.
He said that plan had the support of Mr McGowan's predecessor Colin Barnett.
"The fiercest opponents of what I proposed were Bill Shorten, federal Labor leader, and the Labor premiers, including South Australia, Victoria and Queensland," he said.
"So the challenge for the new Labor Premier of Western Australia is how is he going to get his own party onside?
"We understand the sense of grievance that West Australians feel. I am the first Prime Minister to take action on this."
On a visit to WA during the election campaign, Mr Turnbull acknowledged the state had been short-changed by the GST redistribution system, but had no firm timing for a change.
"As I said previously, we will have an opportunity in several years' time, and the estimate at that point was 2019-20, when the West Australian GST share under the formula rises back up above 70 cents," he said.
"I said that is an opportunity then to set a floor so that nobody loses, but West Australians will feel and know, as will citizens in other states, that no state's share is going to sink down to the levels of 30 per cent.
"I wrote to the premiers and chief ministers, I raised it at COAG and I was attacked unrelentingly by the Labor Party including by Mr Shorten.
"So I will seek to achieve that, and it is achievable with goodwill.
"I believe there is an opportunity to set a floor, but to do so at a time when nobody is going to lose."
Topics: government-and-politics, tax, wa
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