- Federal Government agrees to legislated guarantee that no State will be worse off under changes to GST legislation
- Changes pave the way for legislation to pass Federal Parliament and deliver WA its fair share
Treasurer Ben Wyatt has welcomed moves by the Federal Treasurer to guarantee no State is worse off under the plan to legislate the changes to the way the GST is divided amongst the States.
The draft laws will be introduced on Thursday (October 18) and will ensure every State and Territory will be in a better financial position from 2021-22 to 2026-27.
The McGowan Government has already received written confirmation that it will receive untied top-up transitional payments, bringing Western Australia up to a 70 per cent floor until 2021-22 to make up for its shortfall in GST payments until the changes commence.
As stated by Treasurer Ben Wyatt:
"This is great news for WA.
"Since being elected to office, the McGowan Government has made clear that in order to achieve real reform we needed to convince people of the unjust nature of the situation and then bring them along with reform process.
"We can now see that we have an understanding from the Federal Government, the Federal Opposition and the States and Territories that things need to change.
"While it's a pity WA never had such guarantees, I'm happy for it to become legislated, because now there are no excuses for any member of Federal Parliament not to support the legislation.
"I'm sure all Western Australians will look forward to the legislation being introduced and passing quickly through Parliament. But until it passes we will continue to fight for our State's fair share."
