![\"Cameron](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2dd9763da97d37c3d0d51388a98629ae408b202e7056921b70df6f425e3db038.png\")
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August 14, 2026 \u2014 2:18pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n An \u201cangry\u201d Roger Cook has torn into the interim Productivity Commission report that excoriated the Morrison government-era GST deal which boosted WA\u2019s coffers but incensed eastern states governments.<\/p>\n The interim report, released on Friday, labelled the 2018 deal a \u201cmistake\u201d that could end up costing Australian taxpayers up to $12 billion a year and is failing its key objectives.<\/p>\n It also claims the current system \u201creduces equity\u201d in the GST distribution and overwhelmingly benefited WA, even creating a system where a disaster in New South Wales would lead to a windfall in the west.<\/p>\n But at a press conference on Friday, Cook and Treasurer Rita Saffioti were having none of it, insisting the \u201cappalling\u201d report failed to consider the contribution WA made to the federal bottom line.<\/p>\n \u201cIt completely ignores the role we have in the national economy and also the national budget,\u201d Saffioti said.<\/p>\n Cook said the changes proposed in the interim report, including scrapping the \u201cno-worse-off guarantee\u201d that is at the heart of the fiscal furore, would \u201crip up to $6 billion out of the Western Australian economy\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the funding we use to pay our teachers, our police officers, our nurses, and deliver a record hospital build and improve our schools,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe changes would punish Western Australia for its success, simply to prop up other lazy states.<\/p>\n \u201cWestern Australians are angry, and we have a right to be.<\/p>\n \u201cThese proposed changes are dodgy, deceitful, and quite frankly dumb.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cOur message to the eastern states is clear: the only change we will accept is no change.\u201d<\/p>\n Saffioti took particular umbrage with one page of the report detailing how WA was the only state that was \u201csubstantially better off\u201d under the 2018 reforms, claiming the state government\u2019s submission to the inquiry was ignored.<\/p>\n She described it as a \u201ccomplete lack of acknowledgement of our role in supporting the national economy\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery other state gets a look in, and they don\u2019t even reference us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cNow remember, this is a Productivity Commission that\u2019s meant to be focused on economic growth and productivity, and they don\u2019t actually talk about it in this document.<\/p>\n \u201cIn fact, they dispute WA\u2019s role, and our role in supporting the national economy.\u201d<\/p>\n Saffioti and Cook argued the vast majority of WA\u2019s iron ore royalties were automatically redistributed \u2013 in contrast to Queensland\u2019s coal royalties \u2013 and that while for every $1 increase in the iron ore price the no-worse-off guarantee cost the federal government $95 million, it received between three and four times that in company tax revenue.<\/p>\n \u201cSo even with the no-worse-off guarantee, the federal bottom line still benefits from an increased iron ore price,\u201d Saffioti said.<\/p>\n The interim report offers three possible changes, including a return to the pre-2018 system, with options for the federal government to make direct grants to WA.<\/p>\n![\"WA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/e6d89a586701e2b58891cfd14c84c4240daeb5d6a73e82359659e1fb976214c5.jpeg\")
WA Treasurer Rita Saffioti and Premier Roger Cook.Hamish Hastie<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786695372_260_51c67f0784b6379c17ebbbae268f38e1b51aa848.jpeg\")
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