Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have received a letter from the honourable member for Perth proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The role of Western Australia within the Commonwealth.

I call upon all those members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

An honourable member interjecting —

Tim Hammond (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

All that and more, Mr Speaker! As one moves through life and gets older, one accumulates a collection of memories, memories that I put into a category of visions or things that are seen that then cannot be unseen. We all have them. We all know what they are—let's be honest. Wandering through and inadvertently catching one's parents in the act—that's a vision that, once seen, cannot be unseen. But perhaps more to the point, having to watch and listen to the member for Canning use the words 'sexual intercourse between a man and a woman' as a reason not to back marriage equality is something that cannot be unseen.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd just say to the member for Perth—resume your seat for a second. This matter of public importance has a defined subject matter, written by him. There is no reason why he should stray from it. Otherwise, he will give the shortest MPI in living memory. The member for Perth will come to the subject matter.

Tim Hammond (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are so many other things that, once seen, cannot be unseen. I'll go to the heart of the MPI—what was seen that cannot be unseen at the Western Australian state Liberal conference last weekend. For those who aren't aware, Ned Flanders of The Simpsons has a doppelganger in Western Australia. His name is Mike Nahan. He is the leader of the Liberal Party, and, in an amazing call to arms, he has tried to inspire visions of Howard's battlers and Tony's tradies. And what does he call them? 'Mike's mates'. He said, 'Do you know what we need, fellow Liberals? We need more of Mike's mates in Western Australia!'

The funny thing about 'Mike's mates' is that it's a bit like saying you're a strong Prime Minister. If you've got to say you need mates then everyone knows that you don't really have them. And why is it, I hear you ask, that Western Australian Liberals have so few mates? One only needs to see the course of financial mismanagement that's occurred under the hand of Colin Barnett and the Liberal Party in Western Australia over the last eight years. That has been compounded—make no mistake—by four years of financial mismanagement under this Liberal government.

Let's start at home. Let's start in Western Australia. Let's see what Colin Barnett actually did whilst he was handling the books, then not handling the books and then handling the books. Where do we start? In 2008 we started with a surplus in Western Australia—believe it or not—of $2 billion. Yes, we had some debt. That debt was $3.6 billion. After eight years of a Liberal government, what are we left with? We are left with a deficit of $3 billion. We are left with a debt of $33 billion, which will then go to $41 billion in the course of the forward estimates. How's that for financial mismanagement! One wonders why they don't have any mates!

During that period of time, what did the federal Western Australians do to try to prop up this ailing financial basket case under Colin Barnett?

Let's see what they did. They spent like drunken sailors. Let's see what happened to the GST distribution in the four years in which this federal Liberal government was in charge. In 2014 there was a return of 44c in the dollar under the GST, and they did nothing; in 2015, a 37c contribution under the GST redistribution, and they did nothing; and in 2016, 29c as a GST redistribution, and they did nothing. Are we seeing a pattern here? In 2017, 30c as a GST contribution, and they did nothing; and 2018 and going forward, 34c in the dollar, and they're doing nothing.

Coming back to the state Liberal conference, what did we see this Prime Minister do? Well, he did the same thing that he did at the last state Liberal conference. One could be forgiven for having some deja vu. He promised a floor. He promised some mythical floor to the GST. He promised a floor last time, but he didn't say when, didn't say where and didn't say how much. He promised a floor this time, and didn't say when, didn't say where and didn't say how much. I'll tell you what—I'm glad this Prime Minister isn't a tradie specialising in floors. I'm glad this Prime Minister doesn't say, 'Don't worry about things; floors are us.' There is no floor under this Prime Minister; there is a fundamental flaw, and that flaw is his failure to do anything meaningful to address the disparity faced by Western Australians under this federal government.

Meanwhile, what does Western Australia contribute to the federal government coffers? Well, they contribute more than we could possibly know, and certainly more than you'd be expecting under these federal Western Australian representatives in government: 10 per cent of the population, 15 per cent contribution to the economy and 35 per cent in exports. Let's look at commodities. Iron ore—$48 billion into the economy; petroleum products—$18.4 billion; and gold—$10 billion. And all of that comes to the Federation.

Mr Keenan interjecting—

I hear the member for Stirling ask how many seats they have in Western Australia. They've got 11 out of 16 seats—and what have those members done?

Opposition members: Nothing!

Nothing, I hear you say. So let's amp it up a bit. Let's look at their composition in the ministry. How many ministers do they have who are from Western Australia?

Mr Keenan interjecting—

And how much have those six ministers from Western Australia done? Even less; even less than nothing.

Mr Keenan interjecting—

The member for Stirling asks me: 'What have we ever done for you?' Straight out of the Life of Brian: 'What have the Romans ever done for us? Oh, that's right: highways and plumbing.' This just says so much. Only a fortnight ago, our leader, after—

Mr Keenan interjecting—

Let's call it for what it is. The Western Australian federal Labor MPs have been in this place for 12 months, not four years of government—and are certainly not of the calibre of the member for Stirling here! After 12 months of advocacy and after 12 months of listening to their community, what did the federal Labor leader do not one fortnight ago? He came to Perth and said, 'I've listened to my Western Australian colleagues and I am implementing an historical fix to address the GST disparity on a once-and-for-all basis.' We have a federal leader who is prepared to put his money where his mouth is: topping up our GST disparity to the equivalent of a 70c floor, $1.6 billion, to once and for all address the disparity. That's what we do. After 12 months, we did more than it took you mob four years in government. That's what we do.

So what's the response from this Liberal crew? Well, the response is this: 'We're going to sort of talk about a GST floor, but we don't know when, we don't know where and we don't know how. Instead, what we'll do is we'll put on the table a $100 million exploration development incentive.' Anyone who knows anything about the EDI will tell you that it was this mob who took it off the table in the first place four months ago in the budget on the basis that it didn't work. So what are they going to do? They said, 'We're going to reheat this musty old package that doesn't work and we're going to roll it up to Western Australia,' but they omitted to tell anyone at the conference that this package actually applies across the country—not just to Western Australia. That's not $100 million to WA.

In the absence of that, what else do they talk about? I thought they were actually talking about regeneration within the Liberal Party. I thought they were talking about succession in the party. Turns out I got it wrong. They'd all been in the Dominion League, which is a pub in my electorate—they'd clearly taken some inspiration from that—and wanted to talk about secession from the Federation instead. When the going gets tough, the tough just run away, do they? They run away and say, 'We don't want to be part of it anymore.' Where does that leave the most senior minister of the Western Australian mob, the Minister for Foreign Affairs? Will she be the world's only foreign minister with a policy that she should not be a citizen of the country that she represents on the world stage? How is that going to work, do you think? How do you reckon that's going to go? I'll tell you what: it's not going to go well.

On a serious note, if you want certainty in relation to a GST top-up to a real floor, vote Labor. If you want federal representatives to face up to a problem instead of running away from it, vote Labor. If you want a government that will listen, consider and act in Western Australia, you'll vote Labor.

Honourable members interjecting—

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Order! Order!

Honourable members interjecting—

Order! This is a general warning. There will be no more warnings. I put up with a lot of rowdiness with that first speaker. Everyone is warned!

Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's good to see I engender such excitement with the opposition! It is a great honour to be able to speak on this MPI, discussing the role of Western Australia in our Commonwealth, as described by the member for Perth. Western Australians don't have to think back too far to remember what the vision for WA is from the Labor Party. All they have to do is look back to see what the Labor Party in government did to the Western Australian economy. The two stand-out achievements from the Labor Party's perspective, from their glory years—the absolute glory of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years—were the mining tax and the carbon tax, those absolutely fantastic policies for your constituents, Member for Perth! That's why they turfed you and that's why they keep returning so many fantastic Western Australian lower house members of parliament—because they remember what the vision of the Labor Party is for Western Australia, and that is just to milk it a bit more, milk a bit more tax out of the Western Australians, through the resource super profits tax, as it started, and the MRRT, as it ended up. They ultimately capitulated on the minerals resource rent tax. They said it was going to raise $16 billion, and it didn't even raise a fraction of that. We know that they felt that the carbon tax was somehow going to be strong for an economy like Western Australia's, rich in mineral resources. But the Western Australians sent the Labor Party a message, and they turfed them. They unceremoniously turfed them because they don't agree with the vision that the Labor Party has for Western Australia.

We know why Western Australians have entrusted so many good, hardworking, solid members to the lower house: because ingrained in Western Australians are the values of this party, ingrained in the Western Australian economy are the values ingrained in us—aspiration, hard work, entrepreneurialism. That is the essence of the psyche of the Western Australian public. I was there only a matter of weeks ago. As a Victorian visiting Western Australia, may I say it reinforced my understanding of why they repudiate the Labor Party and why they repudiate this waffle from the member for Perth. And it was absolute waffle—a pretty good comedy routine but not much substance.

I must say, I was watching Sky News yesterday and I saw a bit of a train-wreck interview with the member for Perth. He's normally pretty good on TV—the hipster beard; the sort of cool attitude—but it was a train wreck of an interview. The member for Perth was crowing about some so-called additional funding for Western Australia. Who knows where the funding's coming from? Here's an extract of the interview. Sam Maiden: 'How are you going to fund the $1.6 billion?' Hammond: 'It's been backed in by shadow cabinet.' Maiden: 'That doesn't explain how you're going to fund it.' Hammond: 'It's been assessed by Chris Bowen.' Sam Maiden is very persistent—a great interviewer. She wanted an answer and she wasn't getting one. She said, 'Okay, but how are you going to fund it?' Hammond: 'It's funded. It will be funded.' Maiden: 'How are you going to fund it?' Hammond: 'Out of general consolidated revenue.' Maiden: 'So taxes will have to go up. Which taxes are you going to put up?' I could keep reading through it. The poor old member for Perth stammered on. There's not really a complete sentence that I can read out. In the end, Sam Maiden, in her wonderful fashion, said, 'Mate, this is the biggest magic pudding argument I've ever heard. You're smarter than that.' I'd say to the House and I'd say to Sam Maiden: I'm not sure whether the member for Perth is actually smarter than that, because he's been unable to explain how the Labor Party is going to address these problems.

We've seen recognition from the government, through the Productivity Commission review. We want to ensure, to the greatest extent possible, that the distribution of GST is fair for everyone and we want to ensure that it doesn't hurt jurisdictions or states like Western Australia which do show that entrepreneurial spirit—using their natural resources. Let's be frank, other states do not utilise them properly. Look at the socialist Labor government in Victoria which has locked up all of our gas reserves—conventional gas reserves, as much as anything else. So why should the Western Australian economy be punished? That is why we announced in May this year an additional $1.6 billion for infrastructure in Western Australia. This additional infrastructure funding will support projects, including $792 million towards the METRONET proposal to upgrade and expand the Perth metro rail link, and a tick over $760 million towards priority new road projects to address safety and congestion at a number of key locations. There's quite a large laundry list of projects, but they are funded. We know where that money is coming from. It is funded in the budget. We know how it is being met.

The Labor Party's proposal, ruthlessly flushed out yesterday by Sam Maiden, is a magic pudding. There's no money behind it. Where is the money coming from? Well, the money is coming from a litany of new Labor taxes that have been spoken about in this House. We've had discussions about the Labor Party thinking that small businesses with a turnover of $2 million should be treated like Apple and Google and shouldn't be entitled to things like accelerated depreciation, lower company tax or ordinary structures that small businesses use in family trusts, with their new trusts tax. We know the Labor Party has a housing tax masquerading as a housing affordability policy. I say to the Labor Party and the member for Perth, when he's trying to make his magic pudding numbers work: when you talk about your housing taxes, how do taxes on commercial properties help housing affordability? Why is it fair to allow a surgeon with investment income to negatively gear a property, but not to allow a nurse, a teacher, a fireman or a police officer to negatively gear against their PAYE salary and wages? How is that fair?

So there's an absolute litany of new taxes that will fund this. But just come clean, member for Perth. Just saying, 'It's consolidated revenue. Oh, Sam, it's consolidated revenue' is not going to cut it until you can say where that money is coming from. Western Australians know there's no money coming from the Labor Party—and that's why you've been consigned to where you are. You're going to come under a bit of heat because your state counterparts have made a big deal out of this issue, and we'll see if they're able to deliver. I suspect they're going to find it difficult to deliver on the very lofty objectives they stated before the election. So I'd say to the member for Perth: that was a pretty funny little comedy routine in this MPI. I laughed, I laughed, I found it very amusing, but there was no explanation to Western Australians as to how you were going to fund what you purport to fund. Therefore, you've not even met what the government has announced and, until then, you don't have a leg to stand on. So I'd say to the member for Perth and I'd say to all the members over there: until you have a vision that matches the entrepreneurial spirit of your constituents, they will continue to consign you to where you are in Western Australia. I hope that following speakers on the opposition side can say where the money is coming from. Where is the money coming from? Otherwise, it's just a magic pudding. (Time expired)

Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You couldn't write this stuff, could you? This is gold. They've got 11 people who could stand up and speak on WA and instead we get somebody Melbsplaining it for us. It's not enough that he mansplains it—he has to stand up and Melbsplain it to us West Australians about what WA needs. And in the meantime the member for Stirling is sitting next to him and all he can do is yell out across the table, 'Stand up and speak for your electorate. Stand up and speak for your state.'

It's interesting that the previous speaker spoke about a vision, because the Liberal Party is so bereft of ideas and so bereft of vision that they had to look all the way back to 1933 to get inspiration for WAxit. But I can see why the Liberals are right at home in 1933—no unemployment benefits, no Medicare, a white Australia policy—

Mr Keenan interjecting—

Mr Champion interjecting—

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order. The minister and the shadow minister at the table, please refrain from interjecting and let the member for Cowan speak.

Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I was saying, I can see why the Liberals are right at home in 1933—no unemployment benefits, no Medicare, a white Australia policy, none of those pesky equal rights laws to worry about. And, hey, Malcolm Turnbull's NBN fits right into the last—

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Cowan will refer to members by their title.

Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister's NBN fits right into the last century. As much as we like to have a joke about this, it really is not a laughing matter. It really does belie some real grievances in Western Australia—grievances around unemployment, stagnant wages and, particularly, around our fair share of the GST. It's a very real issue, because Western Australia at the moment is getting just 34 cents in the dollar in return for our GST, despite the numerous things that we contribute to the economy. Apart from that, we don't get much of a say in the national conversation, whether it is on the GST or on things like housing affordability, which in Western Australia—I'm sorry that the member for Deakin has left the room, because I could Melbsplain to him what housing affordability is like in Western Australia. In Western Australia, mortgage stress is such a huge issue. A reduction in equity in people's homes is what's facing them after the big housing bubble. All of this underlines some real grievances from Western Australians around these issues and around the lack of fair share in our GST returns.

What does this government do? What's the government's response to it? It's not offering any solutions apart from a spectacularly ludicrous proposal to establish the faraway mythical land of 'Westralia'. Apart from that, this government's response is to sprinkle a little sugar, bring the GST up to about 37.6c in the dollar, as if Western Australians can easily be shut up with a spoonful of honey. Well, they just don't know us sandgropers and what a force we can be. And of course they wouldn't know that, because—look over there on that side—out of 11 from Western Australia there are four here in the chamber today, and not one of them could stand up to speak about their state and speak up for their electorates and for their state.

Last week, amidst much fanfare, the Prime Minister came to Western Australia. What did he announce? He announced a paltry $100 million exploration development incentive which, like a soggy, reheated meat pie, is just a rehash of the policy that they'd abolished previously. The Prime Minister was given a choice. He could have matched Labor's commitment of a $1.6 billion fair share fund for Western Australia, which would be the equivalent of a 70c floor. He could have done more, by promising to fix the GST share, or he could have done nothing. What did he choose to do? He chose to do nothing. He chose to tell us to wait a while. No wonder the WA Libs don't want him to govern them.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the member for Swan.

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Oh, my god! It's another member for Melbourne!

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Wakefield is warned.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I saw the member for Perth slip across and make the suggestion to the member for Wakefield that he yell that out. Keep up the rhetoric, Member for Perth; it's consistent. It's great to be able to speak today on this matter of public importance put forward by the member for Perth, because of the great role WA has within the Commonwealth. And it does have a great role: our resources sector and the mining boom bring considerable revenue to the state and federal governments. The raw materials, the technology used and the economic benefits to this country have been immense and have shaped our modern Australia.

But for too long the GST system has failed our home state of Western Australia. I'm confident when I say that nobody envisaged the distribution of GST would drop so low that any state would be getting around 34c in the dollar as a return for GST. It obviously tells us the system is flawed. But the Turnbull government has taken action. We've made regular top-up payments, and the Treasurer has announced the Productivity Commission will investigate whether Australia's system of GST distribution is affecting our national economy and productivity. This is a durable solution. It's not a quick fix, nor is it a bandaid solution, but it is a long-term and reasonable solution to such a complex issue.

We heard the member for Perth speak about the visit from the Leader of the Opposition. All that the good people of WA were given was a vote-grabbing exercise, which effectively proved he has now officially ruled out fixing the GST-sharing arrangements for WA. I must say, I was particularly eager to speak on the MPI from the member for Perth. I heard the member for Deakin talk about a train-wreck interview. There was another one in Perth last week, and that was a train-wreck interview with Gareth Parker on 6PR, supporting the Leader of the Opposition's plans for a grand rescue of Western Australia with his GST.

For the members opposite, I'll read some of that interview out; I have the transcript here. I can see that the member for Perth's really looking forward to this. This is Gareth Parker to the member for Perth, talking about the Leader of the Opposition. Gareth:

What he did announce was $1.6 billion of tied infrastructure funding to be delivered in 2019 and 2020, as I guess a bit of compensation—that's welcomed, but it's not a GST solution.

Tim Hammond said:

Look, Gareth, I don't agree with you, mate … and the way in which the reform package is structured, is plucked out of thin air. There are very good reasons why the package is set up as it is. Firstly, this $1.6 billion, again, is not just a figure made up because it sounds good. It's because it equates to a 70 cent floor, in terms of GST allocation, for WA …

Gareth Parker goes on, to Tim Hammond:

You mentioned the 70 cent floor, it's predicated on WA's GST share rising automatically through the natural rebound that we're told is going to come to about 60 cents in the dollar—

so you're not taking it from 34c to 70c; you're taking it from 60c to 70c—

let's say that that doesn't happen, let's say that our GST share only rebounds to, say, 50 cents in the dollar. …will the $1.6 billion commitment rise to bring us up to 70 cents … Is that guaranteed or is it capped at $1.6 billion?

Tim Hammond said:

No; Chris Bowen addressed this yesterday.

…   …   …

Chris Bowen has said, as late as yesterday, that he's prepared to reassess, depending on whereabouts the projections actually go, but this is as good a start as any. What it's actually about …

Gareth Parker said:

Hang on, Tim—this is important because you can't run around saying you've guaranteed a 70 cent floor in our GST share if that's not in fact what you've done.

There we have it, the member for Perth being told by his mate—and he called him his mate—that he hasn't done the 70c as he promised he would.

Certainly it's a far reach from what Labor is promising. In fact, all the Leader of the Opposition could do when he came up to WA was sprout unfunded promises—a trick straight out of the Labor playbook. Unfunded promises will have to come straight from the pockets of our constituents. As we on this side of the House know full well, when Labor increases debt, it means more taxes on every hardworking Australian. In fact, all Labor has done for WA is promise unfunded GST top-up payments. I'm not sure where the member for Perth or the Leader of the Opposition have been hiding, but the federal coalition government has been doing this, and our top-up payments have already been paid to the state of Western Australia. They are already in the bank.

We've seen this before where the member for Lilley, Wayne Swan, made it out to be the big Wild West in 2010, promising a $2 billion infrastructure fund. What did we get? We got nothing—nothing from him or Kevin Rudd, who promised $100 million a year. What do we get? There was not even one cent. (Time expired)

Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The confidence that was shown by the WA Liberal Party in the governance of this nation was writ large last week when they decided they had so much confidence in this Prime Minister, his governance and his financial management of the country that they want out. This is a pretty consistent line from the Liberal Party when we come to think about it, because, when it came to thinking about Federation, their like weren't particularly keen on it for WA at the time, but the workers of Western Australia—the people who were out in the Kalgoorlie mines—all knew that they wanted to be part of a federation. We made sure that WA came in, and an important step it was.

But Western Australia still didn't get a very good deal back then, because all of those protectionists across the nation wanted to impose protectionism on Western Australia—a classically free-trade jurisdiction. It was from then that our position in the Commonwealth has always had a question mark hanging over it. It has been since then that Western Australians in this parliament have had to stand up and roar to make sure that they were heard by those over east, and that is what I am proud to continue the tradition of doing. Because Western Australia, whilst making up only 10 per cent of the population of the country, still provides 15 per cent of the economy and takes up a third of the land mass of the continent of our great nation it is a force to be reckoned with, and it is a force that has delivered great Australian prime ministers like John Curtin and Bob Hawke, and I'm sure there are many more to come.

After that great blast into the Federation, we had the secession movement come to Western Australia, and it is a movement that has stuck with the Liberal Party because the president of the Liberal Party continues to fly that flag. He likes to come back to it again and again. It's a process that did deliver us the Grants Commission, which is a good thing in theory—except it doesn't really deliver for WA in practice anymore, but I'll come to that again. When we look at the trajectory from Federation, the next great step—as I understand, from my great research on Wikipedia—was the concept of the Brisbane Line. It seems the conservative forces on the other side, when we came to that great existential threat to our nation of the Second World War, thought that Western Australia could be given away. That's how much confidence they had in being able to defend our nation. That's how much store they put in the integrity of our Commonwealth over there. They were prepared to give WA away. But, again, that great Labor Prime Minister, John Curtin, when that idea came to his cabinet, said, 'Get stuffed; we are keeping WA in the Commonwealth.' And good on him for doing so.

This Liberal state government that we just got rid of in Western Australia has form when it comes to understanding our position in the Commonwealth. It basically spent its entire eight years not signing up to any Commonwealth agreements and not participating in any national schemes, and, when it came to Infrastructure Australia, it submitted no projects for Western Australia. We had to wait until we had a Labor government in WA—fortunately we now have the Mark McGowan WA Labor government—to even get around to submitting projects to Infrastructure Australia so that we could have them funded. That is what we've been getting on with since the election. But, of course, that would not have made any difference to this government if it weren't for the fact that WA not only had a great, resounding win at the state election but started returning some more federal Labor members as well. It was only after that that this government started to listen.

The member for 'Sukkilala'—sorry, the member for Deakin said that there were all these projects but he didn't actually know what any of them were. Let me tell you. We've got: fixing the Denny Avenue rail crossing; bringing forward the duplication of Armadale Road; the new Armadale Road bridge; the extension of the Thornlie rail line through to Cockburn Central—and that's all just in my electorate. There are many other projects as well. In fact, there's even some in the member for Tangney's electorate, because we understand the need to make sure that they happen. I know you're very supportive of it, member for Tangney. They're just a few of the projects.

But I think it is appropriate that I turn to the GST. We have many Western Australians in the cabinet of this government, in the ministry: the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop; the Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate and the Minister for Finance, Mathias Cormann; the Minister for Employment and the Minister for Women, Michaelia Cash; the Minister for Indigenous Health and the Minister for Aged Care, Ken Wyatt; the Minister for Social Services, Christian Porter; the Minister for Justice, Michael Keenan, who's at the table but not speaking about this issue at all, apparently; and the Chief Government Whip, Nola Marino. They're all from Western Australia and they have delivered diddly squat for Western Australia when it comes to the GST. They came in and offered a $100 million tax incentive for mining, which is of course welcome but not limited to Western Australia. (Time expired)

Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a great opportunity to talk about the GST in Western Australia. Members will be pleased to know that there is support in this chamber, from all members from Western Australia, for doing something about the GST. But the approach is very different. One of the things I'd like to do today is to have a look at the different approaches of the Liberal Party and the Labor Party in relation to the GST. The Liberal Party is committed to a floor in the GST, and the Prime Minister has made that very clear. We're also committed to the Productivity Commission review. This is a very important approach. When we have a look at the different approaches of the parties, we can see that the Labor Party has a smoke-and-mirrors approach and the Liberal Party has a real approach to achieving change.

When we looked at the Labor Party's submission to the Productivity Commission review, what did it say? Shamefully, it said:

The WAFPLP seek an outcome to this situation, but one that doesn’t negatively impact other States and Territories.

They absolutely gave away the opportunity that they had to stand up for Western Australia and to deliver real change for WA. That's not the approach that we're taking. When the Treasurer announced the Productivity Commission approach, he did so saying that the approach was taken because of the commitment of the WA Liberal members and senators to making sure that we fix this problem in a way that sticks.

In relation to what has been achieved already, $1.2 billion of top-ups have been made in the last two years alone. A $2.3 billion infrastructure package negotiated with the state government, including $1.6 billion worth of federal funds, has been committed to Western Australia for important infrastructure. Then there's the $1.2 billion for the Perth Freight Link that sits there ready for the state government to receive from the federal government for the important project of getting cars and trucks from the Kwinana Freeway to the Fremantle port.

We hear a lot from the member for Cowan in relation to the GST. It's very interesting when you compare what she said in the chamber today to what she says to her constituents. In a letter that the member for Cowan sent to her constituents, she said: 'WA Labor has been working for years for a better GST deal for WA. The process of getting WA a better GST share is going to be long and complex. Since Labor is not in government federally, we cannot commit to a process for doing so since we do not yet know everything that needs to be changed.' I think that absolutely sums up the position of the Labor Party in this chamber. The Labor Party have announced a $1.6 billion fund. There isn't a problem they've had in the past which they haven't solved by taxing more and spending more. It's a big promise and it's like the promises they've made in the past and never followed through on.

In 2007, Kevin Rudd promised a $100 million a year infrastructure fund and it never happened. In 2010, Wayne Swan promised a $2 billion WA infrastructure fund and it never happened. There was a review by Mr Swan in 2012 and it never happened. The minister stole my thunder in relation to the member for Perth's interview on Sky News where he couldn't explain how the $1.6 billion promise will be funded by the Labor Party. He said that it's been 'backed in by shadow cabinet'; they're going to fund it because 'it's been assessed by Chris Bowen'. He said, 'It's funded. It will be funded.' You cannot believe Labor's position that fixing the GST issue for Western Australia means that they've got a big bucket of money and an infrastructure fund—more tax, more spend—but their solution does not, in any way, change the distribution of the GST. Is it believable? Absolutely not. It cannot be believable. If you ask the Labor Party to explain to this House whether they have a plan to fix the distribution of the GST that actually changes the distribution of the GST, they will say no. I encourage newspapers like the Hobart Mercury to put the question to Bill Shorten: does Labor have a plan to change the distribution of the GST? The answer is no. The Labor Party members in this chamber should be very honest in relation to that fact, but they're not because it's all smoke and mirrors.

Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to start by noting the near absence of Western Australian MPs from the Liberal side of politics. It's a desperate shame when you have a such great topic to speak on today. I'm very pleased to be able to speak today on the role of WA in the Commonwealth. Geography is important. Faced with the vast Indian Ocean before it, with all its bounty and all its peoples, we can never get away from the fact that we are separated from the rest of the nation by vast deserts and the Nullarbor Plain. It was Tim Winton, that great Western Australian author, who observed that West Australians, for the most part, live on the veranda of this continent, with the Indian Ocean before us, the desert at our backs and the spaces in between used for mining, agriculture and education to build a prosperous state.

Each state in this remarkable nation makes its mark in different ways. My colleagues all enjoy talking about the fine attributions and contributions of their home states—we all do. The role of mining and the resources industry in WA is well-known and the successful exploitation of natural resources gifted to us has been a cornerstone in the development of our state and this nation. The Wheatbelt of WA is the largest grain producing region. The last harvest was the biggest ever experienced, with Western Australian farmers harvesting over 16½ million tonnes of grain. Most of this grain is exported through the largest grain handling facility in the Southern Hemisphere—the CBH grain handling facility, with the blue iconic silos at Kwinana Beach in my electorate of Brand.

WA is playing its part in science and research. The world's largest public science data project is happening in Perth and in the radio quiet of the vast Murchison, where the CSIRO, the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research and their global partners are building the Square Kilometre Array. In the arts, WA excels. The Perth International Arts Festival, established in 1953 by UWA, is the oldest and best—of course—international arts festival in the nation. In our splendid isolation, great artists have emerged from the west: Guy Grey-Smith, Elise Blumann, Mary Moore, Elizabeth Jolley, Shaun Tan, Tim Minchin, the great soprano singer Sara Macliver, the Triffids, the Hoodoo Gurus and INXS. Before all that, the art of the oldest living culture in the world, Australia's first peoples, came to being on the rocks of the Kimberley and the Pilbara.

We all love our homes, but shouldn't we in this place think of this country as a nation made up of its states that is greater than the sum of its parts? I, for one, love Australia so much I would not part with a single piece of her. And to think the WA Liberal Party hold this nation in such disregard that they would seek to tear it apart. Yes, we've all heard about it. The WA Liberal Party state conference last weekend voted to set up a committee to seek to divide WA from the Federation. Such confidence they have in the Prime Minister and how he treats WA, they seek to leave the Federation! Can't get your six cabinet ministers to help out WA? Can't get your PM to listen and do anything? I guess if you are a WA Liberal you take your bat and your ball and you go home and take a third of the pitch with you.

This absurd motion came forward from the Brand division of the Liberals, from a local Liberal, Rick Palmer. I spoke with him just the other week at a chamber of commerce awards event in my electorate. He's been a great member of the community. He's flown the flag for the Brand Liberals for a while. But I'm not sure who else is in the Brand division of the Liberals, given their electoral results in 2016 and then in the four seats across Brand in the WA state election in March. They have clearly left the building. There is no doubt that WA Liberal secession talk is fodder for vast amusement, but the laughs mask a very serious issue. Political leaders have an obligation to work in the interests of the community, to seek to bring people together, to work hard for workable solutions to the problems we all face. In bringing forward this motion for WA to seek independence from the Commonwealth, the Brand division of the WA Liberal Party have engaged in the most rank of politics.

In supporting this absurd motion, the WA Liberal Party have sunk to new depths, by seeking to harness a populous and divisive agenda. This is very serious. How dare the WA Liberal Party damage the reputation of Western Australia and Western Australians in this ridiculous and shameful fashion? Their poor judgement serves only to divide a nation—a Commonwealth that is greater than the sum of its parts. WA is proudly a part of Australia. We have played and continue to play an important role in this great Commonwealth. As leaders, our political skills should be used in working hard to resolve federal difficulties like the GST distribution, not throwing our hands up in the air, insulting our friends and colleagues and deserting the nation. We have seen, around the world, divisions that are stoked up by such irresponsible political leadership. It's a dangerous game. WA is better than this. WA is better than the Liberals. I would say to WA Liberals and anyone drifting towards this separatist sentiment: you don't need to secede to get a fair share; you just need to vote for Labor.

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think the people in Western Australia know exactly what they'd get if they voted Labor, because they saw it last time. They saw massive debt, $191 billion worth of Labor deficits and projected deficits of $123 billion. That's what you'll get if you vote for Labor. That's what you need to do—vote Labor, and you'll get more debt and deficit and another $1.5 billion worth of tax hits on Western Australian small businesses. That's a great Labor strategy! That's what we get from Labor.

The member for Cowan made some pretty shocking comments about a white Australia policy. It was actually Labor Prime Minister John Curtin who reinforced the philosophy of the white Australia, saying:

This country shall remain forever the home of the descendants of those people who came here in peace in order to establish in the South Seas an outpost of the British race.

It was Arthur Calwell who sought to deport people on that basis. But it was Liberal Minister Holt's decision in 1949 that actually started the changes towards a non-discriminatory immigration policy—something that, as a Liberal, I am very proud of, in the same way that I'm very proud to be a Western Australian. That's what we've done.

What will Western Australians get if they get another Labor government? I suspect they'll get another chance at having live cattle exports shut down. If you were in the agricultural sector under Labor, all you got was increased pain. Look what happened to our ag sector. That decision basically took the heart out of that sector. It was a dreadful decision. We saw it reverberate right around Australia. Labor had absolutely zero interest in the agricultural sector. In rural and regional Australia, you were in a desert under Labor during those years. What we do know is that Labor has zero interest in small business. We will see small-business taxes increases. We will see that, and we will see changes. We won't see the instant asset write-off that the small businesses not only in Western Australia but right around Australia are taking advantage of.

I am very pleased to speak about the importance of Western Australia and my electorate of Forrest. It is an amazing part of this country. It's famous for all sorts of products, from its wine to its food, and its fabulous people. And it's a premier tourism destination. There is no better place than the South West with our gross regional product at $16 billion—this is an incredible contribution to this nation—and that's an increase of 35.5 per cent over the previous five years. The South West accounts for 36 per cent of the gross state product in the same year. How vital our region is to the state and the country, an area that I'm particularly proud of, and I'm proud of the men and women who live and work there.

The region's agricultural production was so maligned by Labor. They shut down the live cattle exports overnight not only depriving those people in Indonesia of a source of protein but having a massive impact right across Australia, right down into my South West. They have zero interest in agriculture, and zero interest in rural and regional Australia. That's what Western Australians know, should there ever be another Labor government. They have zero interest in rural and regional Australia, and there are very, very few on Labor's side who've ever had any experience in small business. That's what they know. And, of course, I have so many diverse industries. Whether it's agriculture, whether it's tourism, whether it's forestry, whether it's fishing, whether it's mining, whether it's manufacturing or whether it's construction, all of that happens in my fantastic part of the world in Western Australia. And I am very, very keen to represent that part of the world here in this parliament. But they do know in Western Australia what they will get with a Labor government. It is debt, it is deficit, and it is taxes guaranteed.

To my small businesses, my small-to-medium enterprises: you know what's ahead of you. You know so many of the initiatives that we've introduced—be it tax cuts for small business, be it issues around that instant asset write-off—and we're seeing the green shoots of improvement in the economy right around Australia. They are being generated by what this government is doing. I am very proud of what we're doing, and I know what Labor will do, if it ever gets back into government.

Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Western Australia has made and continues to make a distinctive contribution to our Commonwealth. I've said before, like my Labor colleagues from the west, I'm not an arch parochialist; I'm a proud Western Australian. It doesn't mean I underrate or undervalue any part of Australia. It does mean, as a representative from WA, that I'll speak up for my state and I'll argue for the proper recognition of WA's contribution to the Commonwealth and a fair and proportional response to the WA's needs.

The reality is, in the current climate under this government, the Abbott-Turnbull government, that you have to call out the ignorance and the neglect and the complacency of their approach to Western Australia. We contribute to the life of this nation in ways that span the full range of social and economic activity, and my colleagues today have described in compelling detail our state's special characters and qualities, our industries and entrepreneurs, our environment, our cultural and social diversity and strength, and I want to outline some of those aspects of Western Australian life too, but I do want to mention today the particular contribution that Western Australian women have made to political life in this country.

Edith Cowan was the first woman to serve in any Australian parliament. Dame Dorothy Tangney was the first woman to serve in this, the national, parliament when she served in the other place as a senator. Dr Carmen Lawrence was the first woman to serve as a Premier and, indeed, as a treasurer of a state government. The member for Curtin is the first woman to serve as foreign minister. I take this opportunity to remember and pay tribute to former Senator Pat Giles who passed away last month. She passed away on 9 August. She was a lion of the labour movement. She was an unstinting advocate for women in leadership, and the first woman to chair the Senate privileges committee.

Unfortunately, notwithstanding the great contribution of Western Australian women, WA experiences the highest gender pay gap in this country. And at a time of record and rising inequality in Australia as a whole, inequality is the worst in Western Australia. That's what you get from the double whammy of nine years of a Barnett state government and four years of the Abbott-Turnbull federal government. It's now the case in WA that the wealthiest 20 per cent of households get 44 per cent of all state income, the highest on record. The bottom 20 per cent, the lowest quartile, gets seven per cent of all state income, the lowest on record. And the shares of all three quartiles in between have fallen over the last decade. When you throw in the fact that WA is in deep recession and is experiencing high unemployment and record underemployment, you begin to understand the impact of this government's policies on the state of Western Australia. That's why the disparity between what WA contributes and the support it receives hurts us so much.

We account for 42 per cent of Australia's merchandise exports—15 per cent of the economy as a whole. We're a third of the land mass and 11 per cent of the population. We're apparently due 50 per cent of all shipbuilding, because that's what the Western Australian Liberals take out full-page ads in The West Australian to tell us. But, while the maths on the other side isn't so good, the reality is we're getting $3.5 billion out of $89 billion. That is less than four per cent. We're getting 3.8 per cent of road and bridge projects. We are getting zero per cent of regional jobs and investment, and we get 3.7 per cent of the GST. We contribute 15 per cent of the Australian economy, and we get 3.7 per cent of the GST, at 34 cents in the dollar. We get nine per cent of Australia Council funding and 5.4 per cent of Catalyst funding. We basically get hurt and dudded by this federal coalition government at every turn.

There's only one measure by which we get more than our fair share, much more, and that's in the form of Liberal representatives in this place. We get 11 out of 16 representatives in this place from the Liberal Party. That's 69 per cent. They want to put a floor under that! That's what they're working on—they want to put a ratcheting floor under that. There's no action on the GST, no dollar figure. The Prime Minister comes once every 12 months to say he's thinking about it and he wants to fix it, but there's no action—there's no floor; there's no dollar figure contribution. There's just this parade of Liberal representatives from Western Australia, flying over here and giving us nothing.

But the people in WA are cottoning on to this government. They know there's a solution. It doesn't involve rushing off the cliff like a pack of lemmings. It doesn't involve seceding from the Commonwealth or abolishing the minimum wage or halving foreign aid, or all of the other brilliant ideas that come out of the conference. It involves changing the government and electing a Shorten Labor government. (Time expired)

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to add to the contributions of fellow members on the role of Western Australia within the Commonwealth. As a proud Western Australian, I'm a federalist who believes in preserving the rights of the states which formed the Commonwealth at Federation. Western Australia is an economic powerhouse which punches well above its weight. Western Australia, with a population of 2.57 million residents in 2016, represented just 11 per cent of the Australian population but accounted for 42 per cent of Australia's merchandise exports and 24 per cent of Australia's business investment. Western Australia's gross state product of $239.7 billion in 2015-16 represented 14.5 per cent of Australia's gross domestic product. Our gross state product per capita of $92,056 in 2015-16 was 33 per cent above Australia's GDP per capita of $69,134. Western Australians are consistently achieving at higher levels than most of our other productive Australians. Western Australia is the main minerals and petroleum exporting region of Australia. WA accounted for 55 per cent of Australia's mining gross value added in 2015-16. WA accounted for 53 per cent of world seaborne exports in 2016. Our state is certainly an economic powerhouse.

Our state has been penalised for its strong economic performance by the Commonwealth Grants Commission GST distribution formula, as Western Australia effectively subsidises the other less economically performing states in our federation. Currently, WA receives just 34 cents in the dollar in GST revenue returned.

The government has commissioned a review by the Productivity Commission, which is due to report early in 2018. A greater share of GST distribution will strengthen WA's ability to invest in productive infrastructure, further increasing our state's economic-producing capacity. Options such as a GST floor and a per capita GST funding distribution model must be explored. The Commonwealth must ensure equitable funding arrangements for all states, including Western Australia. In particular, the declining share of revenue from Commonwealth based taxes, such as the goods and services tax, and royalties needs to be addressed as a priority.

The remoteness and tyranny of distances in Western Australia make for costly infrastructure to support these industries. Since its election, the coalition government has committed $6.8 billion to fund infrastructure projects in WA, leading up to 2021. The WA infrastructure package is being funded partially from the $1.2 billion previously allocated to the Perth Freight Link. A further $226 million was announced in the 2017-18 budget to address WA's GST shortfall. This adds to the top-up payments of $499.1 million paid to WA in June 2015 and $490 million in June 2016. Projects such as the Mitchell Freeway extension, which was funded to the tune of $209.1 million in my electorate are examples of this.

The government's $1.6 billion investment in the $2.3 billion WA infrastructure package announced on 7 May will support 17 new projects and provide a major boost for the WA economy, with around 6,000 jobs expected to be supported. The government's investment in the WA infrastructure package includes $792 million towards the Metronet proposal to upgrade and expand the Perth metropolitan rail network, including projects such as extending the railway line from Butler to Yanchep and Thornlie. Constructing the dual carriageway on Wanneroo Road between Joondalup Drive to Flynn Drive to coincide with the Neerabup Road extension and the opening of the Mitchell Freeway is an example of another local project in my electorate. The Australian government has also committed to funding key upgrades within the Perth metropolitan area to develop an efficient and safe freight network.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time for the debate has concluded.