Western Australians should carefully consider their vote at the next Federal Election after Bill Shorten revealed he would do nothing to fix the GST system which has robbed the State of billions of dollars.
Western Australians should carefully consider their vote at the next Federal Election after Bill Shorten revealed he would do nothing to fix the GST system which has robbed the State of billions of dollars.
The Nationals Leader Mia Davies said Premier Mark McGowan and Western Australia’s nine Federal Labor MPs had failed to convince Mr Shorten that a situation in which WA will lose almost $18 billion in GST in the five years to 2019-20 was not worthy of anything more than temporary cash top-ups.
“Once again, no major party is prepared to put Western Australian interests first and address the unfair distribution model,” Ms Davies said. “Mr Shorten’s promise of a $1.6 billion grant is merely window-dressing designed to appease Western Australians in the short term while saving face on the East Coast. The grant represents just one-third of the amount WA lost in GST last financial year alone.
“After years of hammering Malcolm Turnbull over GST inaction, essentially what Mr Shorten has told West Australians is that seats in Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia – states which all currently receive more GST than they generate – are of greater electoral importance to Labor than the 28 seats in WA.”
Ms Davies said only one motion had ever been brought to the floor of the Federal Parliament calling for a solution to WA’s GST rip-off – that of former Nationals WA MP Tony Crook.
“Tony cut a lonely figure back in 2011 as the only WA MP who supported the bill for a 75c floor in the GST,” Ms Davies said.
“The Nationals WA have proven in the past that we are prepared to stick our neck out and do what we feel is right for Western Australia, no matter the electoral consequences.
“The key ingredient missing for a fix to the GST is political will. Every single day Western Australia is sending millions upon millions of dollars of our GST money across the Nullarbor because of an abysmal redistribution system which rewards lazy states that chose not to develop their economies.
“Every second this injustice is allowed to continue is another missed opportunity for Western Australia’s 28 Federal MPs – on both sides of the political ledger – to do the job for which they were elected, that is, standing up for their home State’s interests.
“Western Australian parliamentarians need to be prepared to get a blood nose in Canberra for the benefit of our State.”
