Western Australia receives A$490m infrastructure boost

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Australian commonwealth government will invest an additional A$490-million into Western Australia’s infrastructure, as part of the state’s share of the goods and services tax (GST).

Treasurer Scott Morrison said that the federal government was committed to ensuring the investment assisted Western Australia to successfully transition from resource investment driven growth to a stronger, more diversified and innovative economy.

“Western Australia continues to receive the lowest share of GST revenue, as a proportion of population share, of any state or territory. This investment recognises this and effectively stops the drop in Western Australia’s share of the GST,” Morrison said.

He noted that historically high iron-ore prices continued to affect Western Australia’s GST relativity, despite the recent fall in those prices. These lower commodity prices in more recent times have yet to be captured by the GST sharing arrangement formula.

The decision to make this additional investment followed a similar decision last year and fulfilled a commitment to Western Australia to revisit the impact of GST sharing arrangements on Western Australia, once the Commonwealth Grants Commission determination for 2016/17 had been made, Morrison said.

“Western Australia has been the leading engine room of national growth for most of the past decade, attracting record investment into major resource projects of national significance.

“Today Western Australia is on the frontline of our economic transition from resource investment and construction driven growth to broader drivers of growth.”

Morrison said that the federal government was committed to working with Western Australia to invest in Australia’s future economic success.

“The [Malcolm] Turnbull government will be working with the Western Australia state government to identify the most appropriate infrastructure project(s) for this additional federal investment.

“We are committed to ensure that our investment helps to reduce congestion, improve safety and strengthen growth and job creation.”