"talk about ungreatefull for most of its existence WA has been fed by the east its now required to put something in so it wants to take its bat and ball and go away"
Not ungrateful, but what irks me is when you have a state like Tasmania which has effectively committed economic sabotage by turning the place into a nature reserve. It is now a basket case economy of hippies and bird watchers and there is little chance of it now EVER being a serious contributer to the national wealth. Our state governments and our people have provided the culture of embracing mining and industry (along with the hard work and the many negatives that go with it) and we are doing pretty well.
At federation, the mining states joined on the proviso that mineral resources remained under state ownership and it is written clearly into the constitution. Now we have a utterly conniving federal Labor government who clearly hates WA (and with 3 Labor seats in WA we clearly feel the same). On her last visit to WA, our PM and Premier did not even see eachother, such is the tense relationship between what should be a respectful and strong partnership.
They (and admittedly previous govt's too) provide nothing for us beyond what could at best be described as token in recent years. And now they throw a mining tax at us so all Australian's can get their fair share of Western Australia's minerals. A tax funded 80% by Western Australian's to keep hippies warm over the cold Tasmanian winters.
