Peter Georgiou (WA, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to 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.

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government is committed to the fair-go principle of horizontal fiscal equalisation and to put in place a real solution that does the right thing by our national economy. Our goal is straightforward: to deliver a fairer, more durable and more efficient system for implementing horizontal fiscal equalisation into the future in the national interest. The government intends to table the Productivity Commission report shortly.

Question negatived.