STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator WHITTEN (Western Australia) (13:52): The Productivity Commission have handed down their interim report on the GST carve-up. They are coming after WA's GST again. The Productivity Commission recommend returning to the pre-2018 system that gave WA 30c in the dollar—but, this time, they recommend that the Treasurer be able to direct the Commonwealth Grants Commission to address 'dominant state effects', whatever that means.

The report states that the CGC has not formally defined the dominant state effect. Maybe we can get Senator Ayres to give us another tutorial, with his bag of Maltesers, to please explain! It seems to be a recommendation that the Treasurer should routinely dictate the carve-up of the GST.

In communist circles, this is called 'politburo'. That is typical of this Labor government—centralising control in the hands of their ministers so they can play politics with money used to deliver vital services in the states. States that are killing industry through net zero Temu power systems are being propped up by states that have embraced their natural resources.

One Nation wants a system that rewards states for making decisions that support industry and jobs. The system being pushed by this report hurts states that are productive while rewarding states that cripple their own economies. We won't stand by and let that happen.

WA is full of hardworking men and women who leave their families to work the well-paying FIFO jobs in the Pilbara—people that have worked to build the state and have seen the fruits of their labour siphoned off to other states who are shutting down their power plants and blocking their own mines. WA are not asking for more than we put in; we are asking for the 75c floor to stay in place.

Senator Whiteaker, if your colleagues destroy WA's GST share, you'd better bust out the stuffed animals again, because you've got some explaining to do.