Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to support the Treasury Laws Amendment (Making Sure Every State and Territory Gets Their Fair Share of GST) Bill 2018. But I really do want what actually happened to be put on the record. Senator Cameron, in his contribution to this debate, outlined in a series of events how we got to where we are today. I have to say that we got here with the government dragging its heels and criticising Labor every step of the way. We got here because Premier Mark McGowan made this his No. 1 priority on winning the election last year.

When we look at where WA has come from in getting a fair go for GST, we had, for many years, a Liberal state government and, coinciding with that, a Liberal federal government. Within the Western Australian component, from the Liberal Party we had cabinet ministers and other ministers with very important portfolios, and none of them lifted a finger. I will pay tribute to Senator Dean Smith, who, with a Liberal state government and a Liberal federal government, wasn't able to deliver GST reform but wasn't afraid to speak out about it. He was the only one.

When we look at Senator Cormann, part of his experience as a senior minister from Western Australia has been as the acting Prime Minister. What did he do for GST reform? Nothing—diddly squat! What did Ms Bishop, the member for Curtin and our former foreign minister, do about GST reform when we had a Liberal government in the state and here? Nothing! What did the Attorney-General, Mr Christian Porter, the member for Pearce, do? I might just leave him, because I'd really like to put his record on the Hansard tonight. What did Minister Keenan, the longstanding member for Stirling and a minister in successive Liberal federal governments, do about GST reform in WA? Nothing—absolutely nothing! Mr Wyatt became a minister more recently, but he's been the long-term member for Hasluck. What has he done on GST reform? Nothing! What has Mr Steve Irons, the member for Swan—sadly, my local member, although, hopefully, in the election we'll change that—done about GST reform? I follow Mr Irons carefully and closely; he's my local member. Nothing! I've never ever seen a leaflet from Mr Irons that talked about the need for GST reform. Minister Cash was a fairly high-profile minister who had a fall from grace. What did she do on GST reform? Nothing!

So on and on it goes. All these very important people, very important ministers, in this federal Liberal government—one of them was the acting Prime Minister for some time—have done nothing.

I want to come back to Mr Porter, the member for Pearce—and, hopefully, that will change too because there are a number of marginal seats in Western Australia and they play into this agenda as well. He was the Treasurer in the state Liberal government under Mr Barnett. Mr Barnett was absolutely booted out of the parliament last year in the state's election, suffering the biggest loss the Liberal Party had ever seen in Western Australia because he put the state into record debt. We hear those opposite—in particular, Minister Cormann—talking about debt and deficit. What did they ever say to Mr Barnett when he racked up a massive debt so bad that the WA treasury just before the state election last year raised real concern about the level of interest payments Western Australians were being saddled with? Who was the Treasurer who incurred most of that debt? Who was the Treasurer?