{"id":71862,"date":"2026-08-14T07:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T07:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/71862\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T07:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T07:10:13","slug":"wa-premier-roger-cook-lashes-east-coast-clowns-over-interim-productivity-commission-gst-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/71862\/","title":{"rendered":"WA Premier Roger Cook lashes ‘east-coast clowns’ over interim Productivity Commission GST report"},"content":{"rendered":"

An angry Roger Cook has lashed as “east-coast clowns” the people who authored an explosive report into GST distribution and branded it an “attack” on Western Australians.<\/p>\n

Western Australia was the only state or territory to benefit from 2018 changes to how the goods and services tax is carved up, according to a new Productivity Commission interim report into the reforms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The GST distribution is supposed to help each state and territory provide services and infrastructure to the same standard.<\/p>\n

“However, as a result of the [2018] reforms, Western Australia received enough GST revenue to meet 113 per cent of its assessed fiscal needs in 2024-25 \u2014 compared with 98 per cent for all other states,” the interim report said.<\/p>\n

However, the federal government tops up the remaining 2 per cent.<\/p>\n

Premier Roger Cook said any changes to the GST distribution would unfairly punish WA for its success “simply to prop up other lazy states”.<\/p>\n

\"Skyscrapers<\/p>\n

The WA premier argued that Western Australia and its mining industry prop up the rest of the country. (ABC News: Benjamin Gubana)<\/p>\n

He said the Productivity Commission’s report was “an attack on every hard working Western Australian”.<\/p>\n

“It’s a sign that these east-coast clowns simply do not understand Western Australia, they have no Western Australian representative, and no idea,” Mr Cook said.<\/p>\n

The report said WA’s mining boom drove up the state’s ability to fund itself, meaning it received less GST, while the GST formula also meant WA was caught short during times of volatility, for example when mining royalties fell after the global financial crisis.<\/p>\n

“This produced a sentiment among many Western Australians that the state was ‘losing’ its revenue,” the commission’s interim report said.<\/p>\n

\"Picture<\/p>\n

The interim report found WA had more money than was needed as part of the deal. (AAP: Joel Carrett\u00a0)<\/p>\n

The commission said political pressure from the WA government at the time partially influenced the 2018 reforms.<\/p>\n

‘Dodgy, deceitful, dumb’<\/p>\n

The Productivity Commission has proposed three potential options for change, stating the “first-best response” would be a return to the pre-2018 system, while addressing issues caused by mining revenue “directly and transparently”.<\/p>\n

\"Roger<\/p>\n

Roger Cook and WA Treasurer Rita Saffioti held a blistering media conference on Friday after the report was made public.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 (ABC News: Keane Bourke)<\/p>\n

Mr Cook described the commission’s proposed options as “dodgy, deceitful, and quite frankly dumb”.<\/p>\n

“I’m angry, Western Australians are angry, and we have a right to be,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Cook said he spoke with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today.<\/p>\n

Escape plan from ‘costly’ WA GST deal<\/a><\/p>\n

The Productivity Commission finds the WA GST deal is a “costly mistake” that has led to “perverse” outcomes, and recommends it be scrapped.<\/p>\n

“The Prime Minister told me the arrangements in place for Western Australia will remain,” Mr Cook said.<\/p>\n

“And, this report, a product of the Morrison Liberal government’s legislation, does not reflect the federal government’s position.<\/p>\n

“But we’re taking nothing for granted. We are going to fight to keep Western Australia the strongest economy in the nation.”<\/p>\n

Speaking this morning before the interim report was released, Mr Albanese assured WA would get a “fair deal”.<\/p>\n

“You will get your fair share, because your work and what you contribute to the national economy really counts,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Prime<\/p>\n

Anthony Albanese says he is ensuring WA will get a “fair deal”. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n

WA Treasurer Rita Saffioti said reverting to pre-2018 GST distributions would remove about six billion dollars of revenue from WA each year, and disincentive economic development.<\/p>\n

“It’s simply illogical, it doesn’t support economic growth,” she said.<\/p>\n

“You’d expect a productivity commission to focus on policies that support productivity.”<\/p>\n

\"WA<\/p>\n

WA Treasurer Rita Saffioti joined the premier in condemning the report on the GST carve-up.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 (ABC News: Keane Bourke)<\/p>\n

The Productivity Commission argued in its interim report the GST was intended to provide an equal quality of services across Australia, rather than punish or incentivise state developments.<\/p>\n

“Where a state receives a smaller share of the GST pool, it reflects a need for less support to deliver this level of services,” the interim report said.<\/p>\n

\"Rita<\/p>\n

Roger Cook (left) and Rita Saffioti’s (right) media conference had to be moved outside after a fire alarm went off.
\n\u00a0 (ABC News: Keane Bourke)<\/p>\n

The media conference, held by the WA premier and treasurer, was evacuated after the fire-alarm went off at Dumas House.<\/p>\n

“Yeah, while we’re gone, they’re going to take our GST,” Treasurer Rita Saffioti quipped.<\/p>\n

Liberals draw line in sand<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, prominent federal WA Liberal MPs Andrew Hastie and Michaelia Cash said they had drawn a “clear line in the sand” that WA must be no worse-off under any proposed changes.<\/p>\n

“Over our dead bodies will they take a cent from Western Australia ” Senator Cash said.<\/p>\n

“The WA federal Liberal team will not accept any outcome that leaves Western Australians worse off than they are today.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Senator Michaelia Cash is staunch in her defence of the GST deal. (ABC: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n

“That is our line in the sand, and we will not move from it.”<\/p>\n

Mr Hastie said Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers had repeatedly promised to protect the deal.<\/p>\n

“We will hold them to that promise every between now and the final report in December,” he said.<\/p>\n

WA Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas said it was a “dark and dangerous day for Western Australia”.<\/p>\n

\"Basil<\/p>\n

Basil Zempilas has questioned whether Anthony Albanese would act in the best interests of WA.\u00a0 (ABC News: Courtney Withers)<\/p>\n

“Roger Cook is asking us to trust Anthony Albanese for the long-term future of Western Australia and our fair share of the GST deal,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Anthony Albanese, who backtracked on negative gearing, who backtracked on capital gains tax, how can any West Australian trust that he is not going to backtrack on what is right for West Australians?”<\/p>\n

WA like a gulf state: Minns<\/p>\n

Other states and territories have cried foul against the 2018 reforms, arguing they should never have occurred.<\/p>\n

NSW Premier Chris Minns said the Productivity Commission’s interim report was a clear indicator that change was needed.<\/p>\n

“Every state and every territory with the exception of Western Australia wants change, and I’d like to see it too,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’re now in a situation where Western Australia is so wealthy and so rich that they’re competing and bidding on New South Wales Rugby League games and putting tens of millions of dollars on the table. That’s how rich they are,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I mean, you’re seeing similar behaviour from Gulf States like Saudi Arabia and the UAE and Dubai.<\/p>\n

“They’re almost for the same reason because they’re digging up natural resources and they’ve got billions of dollars to spend.”<\/p>\n

\"nsw<\/p>\n

Chris Minns says every state except WA wants change.\u00a0 (ABC News)<\/p>\n

South Australia’s Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis also said the current system was unfair.<\/p>\n

“It’s made Australia unfairer, and it’s made Western Australia richer. Unfair,” he said.<\/p>\n

Tasmanian Treasurer Eric Abetz argued for the GST distribution to return to pre-2018 arrangements.<\/p>\n

“It is critical for Tasmania’s capacity to fund our hospitals, schools, police, roads and the essential services Tasmanians rely on every day,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An angry Roger Cook has lashed as “east-coast clowns” the people who authored an explosive report into GST…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,3220,100153,9555,7436,100154,100152,463,4211,146,464,100151],"class_list":["post-71862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-budget","tag-east-coast-clowns","tag-goods-and-services-tax","tag-gst","tag-gst-carve-up","tag-gst-deal","tag-perth-news","tag-productivity-commission","tag-roger-cook","tag-wa-news","tag-western-australia-gst"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}