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February 21st, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Premier Colin Barnett says Western Australia is over-reliant on debt to fund infrastructure and services because it gets an unfairly small share of GST revenues.
Reviving his attack on the federal government over the carve-up of goods and services tax (GST) revenues, Mr Barnett said on Tuesday state government finances would feel “the crunch” unless there was change.
He told state parliament on its first sitting day of 2012 that West Australians knew they were being shortchanged, with the state last year receiving only 72 cents back for every dollar paid from GST.
NSW, Victoria and Queensland, meanwhile, all received over 90 cents in the dollar back, the premier said.
“It is a bizarre system that penalises Western Australia for having a successful mining industry while at the same time rewards other states for their reliance on gambling revenue.
“The message is all wrong.”
Mr Barnett said state treasury forecasts were that WA’s share of GST revenues would fall below 50 cents in the dollar by 2013-14 and could be as low as 36 cents in the dollar by 2014-15.
He said that would see WA lose $12 billion in revenue to 2014-15.
“The commonwealth just does not care. By anyone’s measure this scenario is unfair, unrealistic and unsustainable.
“It is forcing the state into an over-reliance on debt to fund infrastructure and services,” Mr Barnett said.
Despite WA clearly being the powerhouse driving the nation’s economy, rising state debt was the constraint on WA’s economic growth, he said.
The premier said WA accepted it could make a net contribution to other states and asked only for a floor of 75 cents in the dollar for its share of GST revenues.
“We are not asking for a special deal. We are only asking for a fair deal,” Mr Barnett said.
“For Western Australia, fixing the GST is the number one issue in federal-state relations.”
Mr Barnett also told parliament his government stood firm against the federal government’s Mineral Resources Rent Tax and carbon tax, saying the latter would add to the cost of living for all West Australians.
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