Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

The story in The Sunday Times, which I also read, does not reflect the position of the government. That was something that was entirely written up by the columnist involved. What I will say to you is that, of course, the Turnbull government acknowledges that WA's share of the GST is unfair. We've said that for some time. We were the first government that actually did something to stop the drop in WA's share of the GST. Under the Gillard government, when WA's share of the GST started dropping, it was heading towards below 30c in the dollar. We were the first federal government that provided a federal top-up payment to Western Australia, and we've made $1.4 billion worth of federal top-up payments to Western Australia so far—which is a policy, incidentally, that the Leader of the Opposition has since copied and tried to rebrand, and he has promised that for 2019-20 onwards.

We have also said that we do believe there is a structural issue to be addressed. That is why we commissioned the Productivity Commission review, which reported in mid-May. The Treasurer has received the Productivity Commission's report, which has assessed the implications of GST sharing arrangements for national productivity and growth. That is something that will be considered by the government and released in due course.