Anthony Albanese facing a $9 billion-a-year GST firestorm ahead of WA visit

Anthony Albanese is facing a grilling from fired up West Australians when he touches down on Sunday, with the Prime Minister continuing to refuse to give WA an iron clad guarantee that it will keep its $9 billion-a-year GST deal.

The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies confirmed on Saturday that head of national policy, Neil van Drunen, would be talking personally to Mr Albanese at a Labor fundraiser on Sunday night, co-hosted with WA Premier Roger Cook, to argue for an unequivocal promise that the PM will not bend to the wishes of eastern states whingers and scrap the GST reforms struck in 2018.

AMEC will remind Mr Albanese that although the GST deal that finally delivered WA no less than 75 cents in the dollar for every $1 sent in GST receipts to Canberra had cost the Commonwealth $23 billion, the Australian resource sector had contributed around $225 billion in company tax over the six years since the GST changes began.

“Nobody is blind to the enormous share of Australia’s resources wealth that is generated right here in Western Australia,” AMEC chief executive officer Warren Pearce said.

War has erupted between WA and eastern States and Territory leaders over a 2018 deal that saw WA finally receive its fair share of the GST, $100 billion-a-year revenue.

Whingers from the east want the deal scrapped, arguing the resource rich WA doesn’t need the money.

Their voices got louder last week, when a review of the deal conducted by the Productivity Commission, recommended in an interim report that the 2018 reforms be scrapped — a recommendation that if accepted by Mr Albanese could see a return of the dark years where WA got as little as a 30-cent return on GST.

Mr Albanese was this week given the opportunity by The West Australian to give WA a 100 per cent guarantee its current GST deal will remain as is — but refused to.

Instead, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister sent The West Australian a comments a week ago in which Mr Albanese said: “I assure Western Australians of this — you will get your fair share because your work and what you contribute to the national economy really counts.”

The prospect of a GST U-turn by Mr Albanese has not just alarmed the WA Government, but the likes of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA, and former finance minister Mathias Cormann who have publicly come out in support of keeping WA’s GST deal.

A CCIWA campaign has so far attracted 12,000 signatories to a petition to protect the State’s GST.

On Saturday, spud king Tony Galati, who has been part of CCIWA’s GST campaign had this message for Mr Albanese: “Mr Albanese — we are serious. Take us seriously. Keep your promise and don’t touch our GST money. We need it here in Western Australia.

“Those clowns in the east that made those recommendations, they don’t understand what’s happening in Western Australia.”

Mr Albanese famously signed a journalist’s arm in 2024, with the words “No change to WA GST”.

He now, has an opportunity during a three-day-visit to WA to give West Australians new guarantee on the GST, and promise he will ignore the Productivity Commission’s recommendations.

Federal Nationals leader Matt Canavan told party’s State conference in Perth on Saturday, Mr Albanese had to do more than just utter “weasel words” on keeping WA’s GST.

“We need more than some scribble on a journalist’s arm — the Prime Minister should get a tattoo which says he will protect the WA GST deal,” Mr Canavan said.

“Anything less than that — I’m not sure the Prime Minister can be trusted on the GST, on tax, on energy, on anything.”

Mr Cook said on Saturday he expected Mr Albanese to keep his word on WA’s GST deal.

“What I have heard from Western Australians since last week’s Productivity Commission announcement is the profound disrespect shown to our State through their interim report,” he said.

“When Western Australia does well, Australia does well. Every hard working Western Australian knows this.

“The Prime Minister has told me the current arrangements for WA’s GST deal will remain — and I will absolutely hold him to that.”