00:01Well, it doesn't get more scathing than this. The Productivity Commission finding that the
00:07GST deal worked out in 2018 is disproportionately boosting Western Australia and costing the
00:14Commonwealth tens of billions of dollars in top-up payments to all of the other states
00:20and territories that are left worse off under the deal. So the Productivity Commission,
00:26this is an interim report, looked at the assessed need of each state in terms of how much of the
00:31GST
00:32carve-up it should get and found that Western Australia was getting about 113% of its assessed
00:38need compared to about 98% for all of the other jurisdictions. Those states and territories
00:44then got a top-up payment, so they weren't left worse off than their 2018 position. But the
00:50Productivity Commission really warning that that goes to the heart of this problem, which is the
00:55inequity in the way this deal has played out. Productivity Commissioner Angela Jackson really
01:01explaining what the problem is here.
01:05So initially, everybody was meant to be better off from this deal. So initially, the government
01:09said, you know what, we're going to provide all states and territories a top-up to the GST
01:13that we provide every year, $1.1 billion. That'll mean that, you know, on our calculations, this
01:18was back in 2018, they thought everyone would be better off as a result of that. That has not
01:23occurred. So the only state that's better off is Western Australia.
01:28And Clare, how have the states reacted?
01:31So the states, as you would expect, have divided depending on which line they fall on. Western
01:37Australia has come out very strongly in defence of the deal as it stands now, whereas other
01:43states welcoming the report that has called for it to change. That report recommending that
01:48the 2018 measure either be scrapped and other ways to address the sort of discrepancy that
01:54exists with Western Australia's mining revenue be done in a different way. We've had South
01:59Australia call it a dog of a deal. Queensland, New South Wales and the other states like Victoria
02:07are also saying that it's clear that the deal needs to change. But as I said, WA Premier Roger
02:13Cook very much singing a different tune with some quite colourful language taking on not
02:19just the Productivity Commission, the people behind this interim report, but also accusing
02:24the other states of having a hand in their own fate.
02:27It's a sign that these East Coast clowns simply do not understand Western Australia. They have
02:35no Western Australian representative and no idea. The changes they have proposed will rip up to
02:42six billion dollars out of the Western Australian economy. That's the funding we use to pay our
02:49teachers, our police officers, our nurses and deliver a record hospital build and improve
02:55our schools. The changes would punish Western Australia for its success simply to prop up other
03:04lazy states. Roger Cook there and Claire Anthony Albanese has previously honoured the WA deal. So where
03:11does this leave the Prime Minister? In quite a tricky position if I'm honest Joe. I don't know if you
03:17remember a couple of years ago there was a bit of a strange moment in Western Australia where Prime
03:22Minister Anthony Albanese was asked by a local paper to sign a pledge that he would stay committed to
03:28this GST deal. The PM went one further and used the sharpie to sign the reporter's arm. I think he
03:34even said
03:34you can make that into a tattoo that that guarantee is so permanent. He's probably regretting picking up
03:40that pen I would say at this stage because he now has every other state and territory urging him to
03:47do
03:47something on this deal. The report as I said is only interim. The final recommendations are not due until
03:54December. So the Prime Minister has some time before he's going to have to make a decision here. But one
04:00way or the other he is going to be disappointing a major state. And if it's WA that's very serious
04:07for
04:07Labor politically. That state has been a real stronghold for federal Labor at the last two
04:12elections. But the eastern seaboard just as important at this point. So Anthony Albanese probably not looking
04:18forward to having to make that call in December.
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