❓ Mr Bowler asks about the accuracy of the Leader of the Opposition's claim regarding a $259 million GST revenue increase for WA. Mr Ripper refutes the claim, stating WA will still require a top-up payment and the GST revenue doesn't yet match pre-GST arrangements.
AnsweredQoN 840Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the claim by the Leader of the Opposition on radio 6PR’s Drive program yesterday that Western Australia would get a $259 million increase in goods and services tax revenue in the next financial year. Does this mean, as implied by the Leader of the Opposition, that Western Australia will have $259 million more to spend on essential services? Mr RIPPER
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for that very good question. Either the Leader of the Opposition is hopelessly misinformed, or he has wilfully set out to mislead Steve Taylor and his 6PR listeners. I will make crystal clear to the advocate of the goods and services tax sitting opposite just what that system has done for Western Australia. The GST revenue received by Western Australia does not yet match what the State would have received under the pre-GST arrangements. This great new tax, which was supported by the coalition, does not even place the State in a break-even position. Western Australia will still require a special top-up payment of $94 million just to get back to the position it was in before the GST came in. When the GST revenue and the budget balancing assistance from the Commonwealth are combined, Western Australia will receive about $41 million more than the previous year, which is a decline in real terms. On current estimations Western Australia will not reach that break-even point, at which the GST revenue starts to exceed what it would have been previously, until 2004-05. Another source of Commonwealth payments, the special purpose payments, will also decline in real terms next year. Western Australia is a developing State, with strong population growth, a geographically dispersed population, and a huge need for infrastructure. Its capital works program is as big as that of the State of Victoria. How does the Commonwealth respond to those needs? It cuts grants to the States in real terms and allocates to Western Australia less than its per capita share of GST revenue. That has cost the State $75 million. The Commonwealth guaranteed the States a minimum amount under the GST arrangement, which was to preserve their positions so that they would be no worse off. It has now torn up that guarantee and unilaterally reduced the minimum amount. The Leader of the Opposition needs to either behave with more integrity on these financial matters, or get himself better informed. At the moment, he is a politician who, for a fleeting moment of political gratification, will indulge in a half-truth. At least Richard Court could be trusted to be loyal to the State of Western Australia.
Mr RIPPER replied: I thank the member for that very good question. Either the Leader of the Opposition is hopelessly misinformed, or he has wilfully set out to mislead Steve Taylor and his 6PR listeners. I will make crystal clear to the advocate of the goods and services tax sitting opposite just what that system has done for Western Australia. The GST revenue received by Western Australia does not yet match what the State would have received under the pre-GST arrangements. This great new tax, which was supported by the coalition, does not even place the State in a break-even position. Western Australia will still require a special top-up payment of $94 million just to get back to the position it was in before the GST came in. When the GST revenue and the budget balancing assistance from the Commonwealth are combined, Western Australia will receive about $41 million more than the previous year, which is a decline in real terms. On current estimations Western Australia will not reach that break-even point, at which the GST revenue starts to exceed what it would have been previously, until 2004-05. Another source of Commonwealth payments, the special purpose payments, will also decline in real terms next year. Western Australia is a developing State, with strong population growth, a geographically dispersed population, and a huge need for infrastructure. Its capital works program is as big as that of the State of Victoria. How does the Commonwealth respond to those needs? It cuts grants to the States in real terms and allocates to Western Australia less than its per capita share of GST revenue. That has cost the State $75 million. The Commonwealth guaranteed the States a minimum amount under the GST arrangement, which was to preserve their positions so that they would be no worse off. It has now torn up that guarantee and unilaterally reduced the minimum amount. The Leader of the Opposition needs to either behave with more integrity on these financial matters, or get himself better informed. At the moment, he is a politician who, for a fleeting moment of political gratification, will indulge in a half-truth. At least Richard Court could be trusted to be loyal to the State of Western Australia.
I thank the member for that very good question. Either the Leader of the Opposition is hopelessly misinformed, or he has wilfully set out to mislead Steve Taylor and his 6PR listeners. I will make crystal clear to the advocate of the goods and services tax sitting opposite just what that system has done for Western Australia. The GST revenue received by Western Australia does not yet match what the State would have received under the pre-GST arrangements. This great new tax, which was supported by the coalition, does not even place the State in a break-even position. Western Australia will still require a special top-up payment of $94 million just to get back to the position it was in before the GST came in. When the GST revenue and the budget balancing assistance from the Commonwealth are combined, Western Australia will receive about $41 million more than the previous year, which is a decline in real terms. On current estimations Western Australia will not reach that break-even point, at which the GST revenue starts to exceed what it would have been previously, until 2004-05. Another source of Commonwealth payments, the special purpose payments, will also decline in real terms next year. Western Australia is a developing State, with strong population growth, a geographically dispersed population, and a huge need for infrastructure. Its capital works program is as big as that of the State of Victoria. How does the Commonwealth respond to those needs? It cuts grants to the States in real terms and allocates to Western Australia less than its per capita share of GST revenue. That has cost the State $75 million. The Commonwealth guaranteed the States a minimum amount under the GST arrangement, which was to preserve their positions so that they would be no worse off. It has now torn up that guarantee and unilaterally reduced the minimum amount. The Leader of the Opposition needs to either behave with more integrity on these financial matters, or get himself better informed. At the moment, he is a politician who, for a fleeting moment of political gratification, will indulge in a half-truth. At least Richard Court could be trusted to be loyal to the State of Western Australia.
Western Australia is a developing State, with strong population growth, a geographically dispersed population, and a huge need for infrastructure. Its capital works program is as big as that of the State of Victoria. How does the Commonwealth respond to those needs? It cuts grants to the States in real terms and allocates to Western Australia less than its per capita share of GST revenue. That has cost the State $75 million. The Commonwealth guaranteed the States a minimum amount under the GST arrangement, which was to preserve their positions so that they would be no worse off. It has now torn up that guarantee and unilaterally reduced the minimum amount. The Leader of the Opposition needs to either behave with more integrity on these financial matters, or get himself better informed. At the moment, he is a politician who, for a fleeting moment of political gratification, will indulge in a half-truth. At least Richard Court could be trusted to be loyal to the State of Western Australia.
Mr RIPPER replied: I thank the member for that very good question. Either the Leader of the Opposition is hopelessly misinformed, or he has wilfully set out to mislead Steve Taylor and his 6PR listeners. I will make crystal clear to the advocate of the goods and services tax sitting opposite just what that system has done for Western Australia. The GST revenue received by Western Australia does not yet match what the State would have received under the pre-GST arrangements. This great new tax, which was supported by the coalition, does not even place the State in a break-even position. Western Australia will still require a special top-up payment of $94 million just to get back to the position it was in before the GST came in. When the GST revenue and the budget balancing assistance from the Commonwealth are combined, Western Australia will receive about $41 million more than the previous year, which is a decline in real terms. On current estimations Western Australia will not reach that break-even point, at which the GST revenue starts to exceed what it would have been previously, until 2004-05. Another source of Commonwealth payments, the special purpose payments, will also decline in real terms next year. Western Australia is a developing State, with strong population growth, a geographically dispersed population, and a huge need for infrastructure. Its capital works program is as big as that of the State of Victoria. How does the Commonwealth respond to those needs? It cuts grants to the States in real terms and allocates to Western Australia less than its per capita share of GST revenue. That has cost the State $75 million. The Commonwealth guaranteed the States a minimum amount under the GST arrangement, which was to preserve their positions so that they would be no worse off. It has now torn up that guarantee and unilaterally reduced the minimum amount. The Leader of the Opposition needs to either behave with more integrity on these financial matters, or get himself better informed. At the moment, he is a politician who, for a fleeting moment of political gratification, will indulge in a half-truth. At least Richard Court could be trusted to be loyal to the State of Western Australia.
I thank the member for that very good question. Either the Leader of the Opposition is hopelessly misinformed, or he has wilfully set out to mislead Steve Taylor and his 6PR listeners. I will make crystal clear to the advocate of the goods and services tax sitting opposite just what that system has done for Western Australia. The GST revenue received by Western Australia does not yet match what the State would have received under the pre-GST arrangements. This great new tax, which was supported by the coalition, does not even place the State in a break-even position. Western Australia will still require a special top-up payment of $94 million just to get back to the position it was in before the GST came in. When the GST revenue and the budget balancing assistance from the Commonwealth are combined, Western Australia will receive about $41 million more than the previous year, which is a decline in real terms. On current estimations Western Australia will not reach that break-even point, at which the GST revenue starts to exceed what it would have been previously, until 2004-05. Another source of Commonwealth payments, the special purpose payments, will also decline in real terms next year. Western Australia is a developing State, with strong population growth, a geographically dispersed population, and a huge need for infrastructure. Its capital works program is as big as that of the State of Victoria. How does the Commonwealth respond to those needs? It cuts grants to the States in real terms and allocates to Western Australia less than its per capita share of GST revenue. That has cost the State $75 million. The Commonwealth guaranteed the States a minimum amount under the GST arrangement, which was to preserve their positions so that they would be no worse off. It has now torn up that guarantee and unilaterally reduced the minimum amount. The Leader of the Opposition needs to either behave with more integrity on these financial matters, or get himself better informed. At the moment, he is a politician who, for a fleeting moment of political gratification, will indulge in a half-truth. At least Richard Court could be trusted to be loyal to the State of Western Australia.
Western Australia is a developing State, with strong population growth, a geographically dispersed population, and a huge need for infrastructure. Its capital works program is as big as that of the State of Victoria. How does the Commonwealth respond to those needs? It cuts grants to the States in real terms and allocates to Western Australia less than its per capita share of GST revenue. That has cost the State $75 million. The Commonwealth guaranteed the States a minimum amount under the GST arrangement, which was to preserve their positions so that they would be no worse off. It has now torn up that guarantee and unilaterally reduced the minimum amount. The Leader of the Opposition needs to either behave with more integrity on these financial matters, or get himself better informed. At the moment, he is a politician who, for a fleeting moment of political gratification, will indulge in a half-truth. At least Richard Court could be trusted to be loyal to the State of Western Australia.
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