David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for the question because, as usual, I need to put what I said into the context in which I said it. Our Premier had indicated earlier that day what our share of GST was broken up into in terms of percentages, which the beneficial states were and what the amounts were that they received. My response to that was to stand up and say to about 800 people at the Liberal Party of Western Australia state conference, 'If you are unhappy with Western Australia receiving 38c in the dollar as a return on your GST, what you need to do is make a detailed submission to the white paper inquiry on federalism and the white paper inquiry on tax reform.' That is what I said to the assembled forum of the Liberal Party in Western Australia.

I do not resile from the fact that I think 38c in the dollar for Western Australia is, firstly, not sustainable and, secondly, unfair. That is not to say that other states do not need more than 100 per cent of their GST revenue. But I must say from a Western Australian perspective that I think 38c in the dollar is very unfair. (Time expired)