The States that have the most money and the ability to raise more revenue want more of the pie while the poorer States are starving of funds.....It is not surprising the States run by Coalition Governments overlook the need and pander to greed!!!

Weatherill 'bitching' about GST: Barnett

Date
    July 25, 2012

 

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett has dismissed his South Australian counterpart's criticism of the mining state's push for GST reform as "bitching".   

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill on Wednesday described WA's bid to have the bulk of GST revenue distributed on a per capita basis as "deeply selfish", saying it did not want to share the benefits of the mining boom.   

"Western Australia has a very short memory. It was only a few short years ago that they stopped being a receiver of money and are now a net contributor back to the rest of the nation," Mr Weatherill told reporters in Canberra.

"Not only is it deeply selfish, it's completely contrary to principle, it's contrary to the way in which this nation was formed."   


Mr Barnett said he was disappointed by Mr Weatherill's comments.

"That has been the problem of commonwealth-state relations, one state sort of bitching about the other state," the Liberal leader told ABC Radio.

"That's not the way forward in a modern federation.

"It's about time we raised this level of debate rather than one state grizzling about another or grizzling to the Commonwealth."

Mr Barnett conceded WA had been financially propped up by the other states for decades before the boom "but you never have the degree of differences between states that you've got now".   

"And Western Australia has more than repaid anything it received in the past."

He wants a 75 per cent floor on GST distributions and was pushing his case at a Council of Australian Governments meeting in Canberra on Wednesday.

WA received 72 cents in the dollar in 2011/12, will get 55 cents for each dollar this financial year and is expected to get even less in coming years.

Mr Barnett said Victoria, NSW and Queensland were "pretty close" to broadly agreeing with WA in calling for the majority of GST funds to be distributed according to a state or territory's population.

"That's what I hope can be achieved out of these two days," he said.

"And I think if the big four states agree, then that's a powerful argument for going that way because those states represent 90 per cent of the Australian economy and 90 per cent of Australia's population."

Any change would be phased in slowly over a period of time so no state or territory was disadvantaged during the transition, he said.

"Obviously Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania would be looked after."   

WA Opposition Leader Mark McGowan suggested a higher floor of 80 cents in the dollar.

Mr McGowan called for bipartisanship on the issue, but also pitched to electors that they would get a better GST deal if they elected a Labor government in state elections in March.

"A simple, certain, bipartisan approach is what's required ... that's the most reasonable way forward," he told reporters in Perth.

Mr Barnett was part of the Richard Court-led state government in 1999 when it signed the original GST deal with the Commonwealth, he said.

"There was no floor put in, so our rate could go down to zero," Mr McGowan said.

Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/weatherill-bitching-about-gst-barnett-20120725-22qok.html#ixzz21foe7iIt

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I think it should be a mixture of per capita and sq klm of the state, with a complexity factor of urbanised/industrialised sq klm compared to bare unproductive sq klm.

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They don't and they never have.

The minerals in the ground belong to the people of the state that owns them.


Maybe the basket case states (labor) should attempt to look after themselves rather demand more and more handouts for the 'working' states.

BigOl64 wrote on Jul 26^th, 2012 at 8:03am:




I dont agree.. they belong to us all..otherwise we will have a country of poor on one side wealthy on the other...

dont agree at all.

its by chance where these wonders from the earth are..and each one will either run out or go past its use by date aka coal..

then what the rich will suddenly be poor..come on!!!

cods wrote on Jul 26^th, 2012 at 8:16am:



Whether you agree or not is irrelevant, it's the law.

BigOl64 wrote on Jul 26^th, 2012 at 8:03am:


Then when the mining boom is over and WA is once again reliant on the rest of Australia for support the other States will just have to accept it.....WA can raise its revenue (and has by putting a higher price on iron ore fines) and also reaps the benefits of much higher royalties due to the boom.....WA is rolling in cash and Barnett wants more to pork barrel and buy votes at the expense of the rest of Australia.....Mr Barnett is a typical greedy Conservative who sees only their own need to retain power over the needs of the majority!!!