Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Figures released yesterday show that Western Australia has contributed $404 billion to the Australian economy. Put another way, that is 17.5 per cent of Australia's gross domestic product. What does that mean? Western Australians per capita have a benefit of $143,000 a year compared to just $89,000 for the rest of Australians. But last night that was all put behind us—there was no mention of the GST, Fremantle Dockers or West Coast Eagles—as Western Australia's best of the best came to our national parliament to show off all the things that are great about Western Australia: iconic brands like CBH, Rio Tinto, Perth Airport and others. The distillers from the Kimberley to the Swan Valley area of our state all came to Canberra, and they showed off the best of the best that WA has to offer.

On behalf of Western Australian senators, thank you very much to all of those parliamentarians who came and saw what we had to offer, and reminded themselves of the wonderful contribution that Western Australia makes to the success of our whole nation. Thank you very much, also, to the wonderful staff of Ian Goodenough, who led the coalition's contribution. We look forward to bringing the best of the best of the best to the parliament again to show off Western Australia, and, in doing so, we challenge other states to show off what they can bring—what can New South Wales bring? What can Tasmania bring?—knowing always that Western Australia stands tall, stands strong, and makes such a strong and important contribution to the wellbeing of our whole country.