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Mark McGowan v Dominic Perrottet: WA premier has some words of warning for new kid in town

Josh Zimmerman & Anton NilssonThe West Australian
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Mark McGowan and Dominic Perrottet haven’t wasted time getting onto the topic of GST.
Camera IconMark McGowan and Dominic Perrottet haven’t wasted time getting onto the topic of GST.

WA Premier Mark McGowan has accused the NSW Government of relentless “whinging” after his freshly installed counterpart Dominic Perrottet fired an early warning shot in what looms as an ongoing battle over GST.

In his first interview after replacing Gladys Berejiklian as NSW Premier, Mr Perrottet declared “disagreement is good” and that he had no intention of backing down in his fight to rework the 2018 GST deal that introduced a floor of 70c in the dollar under WA’s share of the tax.

"I’m not going to stand by and have NSW worse off because, while there might not be that much public interest in GST reform, it’s GST that pays for our schools and our hospitals and our nurses and our teachers and our police officers,” Mr Perrottet said.

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Mr McGowan said the former NSW Treasurer’s elevation to Premier meant the GST debate was now a “clear and present danger to Western Australia”.

“He is a relatively young man so I assume he'll be around in that role (for some time) – although NSW premiers turn over pretty quick,” Mr McGowan said.

“They're like prime ministers, they turn over very quickly. So I assume he'll be around for a while and clearly his sights are set on undermining our revenue, our GST.

“To be frank with you I'm tired of listening to their whinging. They never stop whinging.

“And the reality is, we have supported them far more, far more, than they support us.”

More than $10 billion in Commonwealth-funded COVID disaster payments have flown to residents of the locked down eastern states this year while WA has not received a cent.

The vast majority of that funding - $6.7 billion – has gone to NSW, including $600 million in the past week alone.

“The NSW Government have been very poor financial managers,” Mr McGowan said.

Dominic Perrottet.
Camera IconDominic Perrottet. Credit: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images

“They now have massive deficits and massive debt. They managed COVID very badly and you can see the consequences, what's happening in NSW now.

“And so instead of looking in the mirror, they look west to blame us for their situation.

“The reality is, but for our efforts to keep COVID out and keep our industries open, the huge bailouts… would not be possible.

“Rather than attack Western Australia, they should be grateful for what the people of this state have done in order to continue to fund their state.”

Mr Perrottet – who has long agitated against the deal that introduced a floor of 70c in the dollar under WA’s share of GST – last month labelled Mr McGowan the “Gollum of Australian politics”.

You can just picture him over there in his cave with his little precious — the GST,” Mr Perrottet said.

The NSW government has argued that as a result of the new GST rules, WA receives too much money from the revenue pool – especially because the state’s finances are buoyed by booming iron ore prices.

Before the changes passed, NSW successfully lobbied for a clause to be inserted that said no state would be worse off than before.

Asked about his GST stance going forward, Mr Perrottet said: "The most important thing on it GST is that the federal government does not remove the ’no worse off’ clause."

"If that no worse off clause is removed, it will have a heavy burden, a very heavy burden in supporting other states.

"WA particularly needs to come to be table and get a deal that is fair for the country."

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