A $600 million Commonwealth payment to Western Australia isn't a handout, it's compensation for the state's low GST share, state Treasurer Mike Nahan says.
Dr Nahan says Colin Barnett sealed a deal on the payout in Canberra last week, despite it appearing the WA premier had left the COAG meeting empty-handed.
The WA treasurer is yet to discuss the details of the payment with Finance Minister Mathias Cormann or Treasurer Joe Hockey, but is adamant the ground work has been done.
Negotiations would continue over coming weeks, but the "basis of the deal is there", he said.
"There's some issues related to how the money is going to be spent," Dr Nahan told reporters on Monday.
"And there's some finer details about timing ... about the magnitude, whether it's over one year or two years."
Senator Cormann would not confirm an agreement had been reached with WA.
"We have said that we would work with Western Australia on a bilateral basis to explore how the Commonwealth can best and most appropriately support WA through a transition over the short term," he said.
"That work will be done over the coming weeks."
Dr Nahan said the $600 million made up for funds lost when WA's GST share falls from 37.6 cents in the dollar to 29.9 cents in 2015/16.
He said the funding would be used for capital works projects that were already being part-funded by the Commonwealth, including the Perth Freight Link.
"It's not a handout," he said.
"It's just recognising that the other states would not do the right thing on the GST distribution and the Commonwealth is providing leadership by helping us compensate for the failure of the other states."
Share
