Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I note with interest the report from the Commonwealth Grants Commission and I await with even keener interest reports of the future. I firmly believe the Commonwealth Grants Commission process is deeply flawed. When you look at the inequality in the distribution between the various states and territories, it is unsustainable. It is unsustainable to the extent that the government has determined that it will bring in outside advisers and previous premiers of states—mind you, I must say they are from south-eastern Australian states—to actually review the Commonwealth Grants Commission process. From my discussions with the Commonwealth Grants Commission officers, I have little confidence that we will see these sorts of issues properly addressed.

You would be well aware that some 68c in the dollar of GST money now returns to my home state of Western Australia. The larger states of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria get somewhere into the 90s. Of course, Tasmania achieves well in excess of that, as do South Australia and the Northern Territory. This is unsustainable because those states that are capable of actually earning greater wealth for the nation, which ultimately will assist all Australians, are being held back, especially in the case where we are only getting two-thirds and possibly having that reduced even further to some 50c in the dollar. I look with keen interest to future reports of the commission.