WA’s Special Deal: Fair Reward or Billion‑Dollar Rort?
2/26/202630 min
What happens when the nation’s wealthiest state gets extra funding on top of a needs‑based system? Since 2019, Western Australia has received a special billion‑dollar boost that no other state gets, and now the deal is under review. WA wants it to stay. The rest of the country is paying for it. So is the arrangement justified, or overdue for a rethink?
Guests:
Saul Eslake, Economic consultant and former chief economist for ANZ and Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Australia
Matt McKenzie, Economics writer for The West Australian
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
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Mark Fennell0:05
When the police raided the Stonewall Inn back in 1969, they had no idea that it would eventually lead to the birth of gay pride.
Peter Martin· Host0:15
We started standing up for ourselves and said, "This is who we are, and you're gonna accept us."
Mark Fennell0:19
I'm Mark Fennell, and I am the host of the ABC Radio National podcast, No One Saw It Coming. Each week, we unravel a moment in history that changed the course of the world, but, well, no one saw it coming. To hear it, search for No One Saw It Coming on the ABC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Peter Martin· Host0:37
Many of us don't particularly mind paying tax because we know that where it goes to someone else, it'll be someone less well off than we are. But what if it went to someone better off and was used to make that person or that state of Australia better off still? That's arguably the system we've had since 2019 when it comes to doling out centrally collected taxes to Australian states. Every state gets grants allocated on the basis of need these days, except for one, the richest, which now gets paid extra over and above the formula. That deal, that special deal for Western Australia is costing the rest of us billions. But it's up for review, and Western Australia, calling itself the powerhouse of the nation, is doing