Breaking: Angry WA premier lashes 'east-coast clowns' on explosive GST report
An angry Roger Cook has lashed who he calls 'east-coast clowns' over an explosive proposed shake-up of the GST carve-up.
Western Australian Premier Roger Cook expressed outrage over an interim report by the Productivity Commission regarding the distribution of the goods and services tax (GST). Cook claimed the report was an "attack on Western Australians" and portrayed it as a way to punish the state for its economic success. According to the report, Western Australia was the only jurisdiction to benefit from GST reforms in 2018, receiving enough revenue to meet 113% of its fiscal needs in 2024-25 compared to 98% for other states.
This success was attributed to WA's mining boom and the GST formula penalizing states when mining royalties fell post the global financial crisis. Cook dismissed the commission's proposed changes to the GST distribution system as "dodgy, deceitful, and quite frankly dumb." Despite assurances from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that Western Australia's arrangements would remain unchanged, Cook vowed to fight for his state to maintain its position as the nation's strongest economy.
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