John Howard agrees – Reverse the GST Rip-Off, Crook

FORMER Prime Minister John Howard has supported calls for a fairer share of GST to be returned to Western Australia.

In a recent interview with the Sunday Times (Howard states his case, December 4, 2011) the former Prime Minister shared his views on WA’s unfair GST allocation.

“There is this feeling that Labor in Canberra, and (Prime Minister Julia) Gillard, continue to see Western Australia as a cash cow,” Mr Howard said.

“There seems to be this belief that because WA is prosperous it can carry a bigger share of the load than its population might warrant.”

Mr Howard said WA had a case for a fairer share of GST receipts – echoing the calls by The Nationals WA Federal Member for O’Connor, Tony Crook MP and the WA State Parliament, who voted unanimously to support Tony Crook’s Private Members Motion to reverse WA’s GST rip-off.

“It does seem that WA’s share under the equalisation formula is dwindling too rapidly,” Mr Howard said.

Mr Howard was also cautious of the GST review.

“The idea of the GST review is fine, but it has to be done in an unimpeded way and it can’t be subjected to a whole lot of caveats and conditions.”

The Nationals WA Federal Member for O’Connor, Tony Crook, said the support for WA to receive a fairer share of GST continued to gain momentum.

“It seems everyone agrees that WA needs a fairer share of GST returns except for WA’s Federal representatives, who continue to put Party politics ahead of the best interests of their own state.”

Mr Crook said John Howard’s support for a fairer GST share should send a message to WA’s Federal Liberals.

“As the most recent Liberal Prime Minister – a former leader of this country – you would think that his concerns would be shared by Federal Liberals MPs.

“The Liberals showed their true colours in Parliament last month when they voted against the State of WA – costing our State $4 billion over the next two years.

“If the unanimous support of the WA State Parliament didn’t send a message to the WA’s Liberal MPs, perhaps the former Prime Minister could have a word in their ear about doing the right thing for their state and their electors.”

Mr Crook said he will continue his campaign to secure a better deal for WA.