Its time we sandgropers dumped you lot of parasites and let you...

Its time we sandgropers dumped you lot of parasites and let you fend for yourselves
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Andrew Probyn and Natasha Boddy, The West Australian
May 10, 2012, 3:11 am


WA 'can't carry everyone'

The Gillard Government's efforts to sell its sharing-the-boom Budget were undermined by concerns that WA's plummeting share of GST revenue would stymie the State's ability to generate sufficient wealth for the rest of the country.

Promoting his fifth Budget, Treasurer Wayne Swan said yesterday the $5 billion in payments to low and middle-income households allowed more Australians to have a "stake in our economic success".

The payments, in the form of increased family benefits and one-off bonuses, will be funded by the minerals resource rent tax and replace promised company tax cuts, which the Government abandoned in the face of opposition from the coalition.

But Premier Colin Barnett said Federal Budget forecasts that WA's GST take would plunge to 29¢ in the dollar by 2014-15, down from the current 72¢ in the dollar, cast new doubt on the Commonwealth's long-term reliance on the State.

"This Labor Government's Federal Budget is a Budget for the east coast to be paid for by the west coast," Mr Barnett said. "The mining industry might be able to sustain WA long-term, but it will not be capable of sustaining the Australian economy or indeed solving Wayne Swan's Budget and economic problems."