Peter Georgiou (WA, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) senators have a duty to act in the interests of both the nation and of the states they represent,

  (ii) in 2017-18, the GST (goods and services tax) revenue distribution to Australian states and territories averaged $2,561 per person overall, however Western Australians received just $882 per person, being less than a third of the average,

  (iii) no other state or territory received less than $2,200 per person, with Tasmanians receiving $4,624, South Australians $3,690 and Victorians $2,389,

  (iv) in 2016-17, Western Australia accounted for 35% of the nation's exports, and Western Australia is by far the country's leading state on a balance of payments basis,

  (v) every other Australian state is subsidised by Western Australia, and, according to analysis conducted by the Productivity Commission, over $3 billion a year is being drained from WA, and

  (vi) both Labor and Liberal Western Australian State Governments have called on the Federal Government to increase Western Australia's GST distribution;

(b) recognises that the government has the power to immediately increase the share of GST revenue that Western Australia receives; and

(c) calls on the government to increase the GST distribution share that Western Australia receives to at least the average level.