✓ ABC NewsPower & Policy

Morrison's $5 billion WA GST deal blows out to $60 billion

A 2018 GST deal promised to top up Western Australia to receive 75 cents per dollar it collected. It was expected to cost about $5 billion over about six years. Instead, it has cost $23 billion to date and is projected to cost $60 billion by 2030. The prime minister refuses to change it.

Why it mattersA $60 billion commitment to one state locks the federal government into spending that could go to services everywhere else in Australia. Experts say the deal was never affordable.

AustraliaAll Australian states feel the squeeze: less federal money flows to health, education, infrastructure as the GST commitment grows, widening inequity between states rather than closing it.

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