An overwhelming majority of Western Australians support keeping the current GST deal, with new CCIWA research highlighting its role in delivering stability and boosting productivity.
However, a Productivity Commission review has put that certainty under pressure.
GST deal helps all Australians, says WA
“We do a lot for the country with the mining and the exports and everything like that. So, keeping a fair share isn’t just about WA, it’s helping everybody,” one respondent said.
CCIWA Chief Economist Dr Daniel Kiely said Western Australians understood how the national economy relied on WA.
“People in WA know that our State is the economic engine-room of the nation, propping up the Federal Budget and lifting the standard of living for all Australians,” he said.
“Without the current GST deal, WA would be $6 billion a year worse off, despite our oversized contribution to the national economy.
“That would undermine the services and infrastructure needed to keep WA strong and allow us to keep driving the nation’s prosperity.
“This data sends a clear message to the Federal Government: don’t change WA’s GST deal.”
Support for the GST deal reflects its stability and productivity benefits, as well as concerns about the risks of change amid economic uncertainty and cost-of-living pressures.
“WA is a little tricky … we do raise a lot of our own revenue obviously through mining but … at the same time, we have lots of remote and regional areas.
So, we have a cost factor there,” a respondent said.
“That WA is only getting a fairly low amount compared to everyone else was, quite frankly, shocking to me,” another said.
People want GST system that supports growth
The survey also found 65% of WA respondents agreed that states and territories that contributed more to the GST by growing their own economies should not be penalised by receiving less GST.
“The old GST arrangements punished WA for its success, and didn’t encourage other states to develop their economies,” Kiely said.
“Both the Federal Treasurer and the Prime Minister have reiterated publicly that there would be no change to WA’s GST arrangements.”
CCIWA’s submission has also been supported by a steering committee of WA business leaders, including Nigel Satterley, Michael Chaney, John Poynton and Andrew Forrest.
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