West Australian Premier Colin Barnett has called on Tasmania to either stop rejecting development or stop putting its hand out to take the spoils of the hard work of other states.
The Federal Government last week announced a review of how the GST is distributed among states and territories.
The move has pleased Mr Barnett, who has for years called for WA to get a larger share of GST proceeds.
Mr Barnett wants to see 75 cents in each GST dollar collected in WA, returned to the state.
Currently WA receives about 68 cents in the dollar.
Tasmania is concerned it could end up with less money as a result.
But Mr Barnett has told Sky News while he does not think any Australian should suffer, there should be some pressure on states to drive economic development.
“Tasmania has become Australia’s national park,” he said.
“You know, if they continue to reject any sort of development well what right is there to simply take the spoils of hard work in other states.”
