Western Australian Premier Roger Cook has attacked an interim Productivity Commission report on GST distribution, calling its authors "east-coast clowns" and branding the report "an attack on Western Australians." The fight is over who gets the money, who gets the services, and who gets told to swallow it. The commission said Western Australia was the only state or territory to benefit from the 2018 changes to how the goods and services tax is carved up, while the federal government topped up the remaining 2 per cent.
Who Pays for the System
The GST distribution is supposed to help each state and territory provide services and infrastructure to the same standard. That’s the official story. The numbers in the interim report show how the arrangement actually lands: 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. The federal government covered the shortfall. The apparatus keeps the language of fairness while moving money around from one corner of the federation to another, with ordinary people left to live under whatever deal the bosses in Canberra and the state capitals settle on.
Cook said any changes to the GST distribution would unfairly punish WA for its success "simply to prop up other lazy states." He added, "It's a sign that these east-coast clowns simply do not understand Western Australia; they have no Western Australian representative, and no idea," and called the commission's proposed options "dodgy, deceitful, and quite frankly dumb." He said, "I'm angry, Western Australians are angry, and we have a right to be." Those are the words of a premier defending his patch of the state machine, but they also show how quickly the language of grievance gets deployed when money is on the line.
What the Powerful Call Fairness
Before the interim report was released, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said WA would get a "fair deal." "You will get your fair share, because your work and what you contribute to the national economy really counts," he said. That promise sits right beside the report’s claim that the GST exists to provide an equal quality of services across Australia, rather than punish or incentivise state developments. The commission said, "Where a state receives a smaller share of the GST pool, it reflects a need for less support to deliver this level of services." That’s the language of managed inequality dressed up as neutral administration.
WA Treasurer Rita Saffioti said reverting to pre-2018 GST distributions would remove about $6 billion in revenue from WA each year and disincentivise economic development. "It's simply illogical; it doesn't support economic growth," she said. "You'd expect a productivity commission to focus on policies that support productivity." Cook said he spoke with Albanese on Friday and that Albanese told him the arrangements in place for Western Australia would remain. Cook also said, "And this report, a product of the Morrison Liberal government's legislation, does not reflect the federal government's position." He added, "But we're taking nothing for granted. We are going to fight to keep Western Australia the strongest economy in the nation."
The Deal, the Threat, the Waiting Game
The political class is already lining up around the same table. Prominent federal WA Liberal MPs Andrew Hastie and Michaelia Cash said they had drawn a "clear line in the sand" that WA must be no worse off under any proposed changes. "Over our dead bodies will they take a cent from Western Australia," Cash said. "The WA federal Liberal team will not accept any outcome that leaves Western Australians worse off than they are today. That is our line in the sand, and we will not move from it." Hastie said Albanese and Jim Chalmers had repeatedly promised to protect the deal. "We will hold them to that promise every day between now and the final report in December," he said.
WA Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas called it a "dark and dangerous day for Western Australia." He said, "Roger Cook is asking us to trust Anthony Albanese for the long-term future of Western Australia and our fair share of the GST deal." Then came the warning about trust in a system built on broken promises: "Anthony Albanese, who backtracked on negative gearing, who backtracked on capital gains tax, how can any West Australian trust that he is not going to backtrack on what is right for West Australians?"
Other states and territories have cried foul against the 2018 reforms, arguing they should never have occurred. NSW Premier Chris Minns said the commission's interim report was a clear indicator that change was needed. "Every state and every territory except Western Australia wants change, and I'd like to see it too," he said. He added that WA was so wealthy and so rich that they're competing and bidding on New South Wales Rugby League games and putting tens of millions of dollars on the table. South Australia's Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis said, "It's made Australia unfairer, and it's made Western Australia richer. Unfair," while Tasmanian Treasurer Eric Abetz said returning to pre-2018 arrangements was "critical for Tasmania's capacity to fund our hospitals, schools, police, roads and the essential services Tasmanians rely on every day."
The media conference held by Cook and Saffioti was evacuated after the fire alarm went off at Dumas House. "Yeah, while we're gone, they're going to take our GST," Saffioti said, jokingly. The final report is expected in December, and the whole circus keeps moving while the people at the bottom are told to wait for their share.