The Productivity Commission must hold public hearings in Western Australia as part of its GST distribution reforms review.
The Commission, which on Friday called for up to $6 billion a year to be ripped from WA’s budget, will hold one week of public hearings, completely online from the East Coast.
CCIWA Chief Economist Dr Daniel Kiely said holding hearings in WA would help to counter concerns of an East Coast bias in the Productivity Commission’s interim report.
“You can’t get a real picture of the economic, social and business environment in Western Australia via a video link from Canberra or Melbourne,” he said.
“We urge the Productivity Commission to visit WA and hold several days of hearings in this state, ideally visiting Perth and the Pilbara, to get a true picture of what is at stake for this state and hear from the people who could be impacted by their final recommendations.
“The Productivity Commission visited Western Australia back in 2017 when it was last reviewing the GST and we urge them to do so again in 2026.
“We also believe that one week of hearings will not be enough to gain a full and accurate view of the GST system.”
CCIWA has written to the Productivity Commission, urging it to hold hearings in WA and extend the hearing period.
Dr Kiely said the interim report is dominated by East Coast voices, with references to other State Government submissions vastly outweighing those made by WA.
“It’s alarming that the Western Australian Government’s submission is only referenced ten times in the report, yet it is the state that has the most to lose” he said.
“The Productivity Commission’s interim report talks a lot about WA but it hasn’t listened to what we’ve had to say.”
CCIWA has called on the Federal Government to reject the findings of the Productivity Commission’s interim report, after repeated promises from the Prime Minister that there would be no change to WA’s GST deal.
“Our message to the Prime Minister is simple: Keep your promise and keep the deal,” he said.
“We’ve seen the gleeful reaction of the other states to the interim report, but we urge the Prime Minister to stand firm in the face of a growing East Coast push to hamstring WA’s economy.
“The fact is that the 2018 reforms were introduced for a reason. The Productivity Commission itself said the old system has significant weaknesses.
“We can’t go back to a system where WA gets less and less of its own GST revenue while industry here delivers for the nation.
“The solution to another state’s budget pressures can’t be to punish WA by returning to a broken system.”
More than 7,300 people have signed CCIWA’s petition to keep the current GST deal.
