Western Australia will get a whopping $3.2 billion in federal funding to help build new infrastructure, after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull admitted his government is feeling the heat over the west's low GST share.
But Mr Turnbull insists the cash is for much-needed projects, including the Ellenbrook and Byford stages of the WA government's flagship Metronet rail network, and not pork-barrelling in marginal electorates.
"All of my colleagues are very keenly aware of the (GST) concern here and they share that concern," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Perth on Friday.
"This is a plan to get West Australians home sooner and safer, to bust congestion, to improve everybody's amenity here in this great city.
"It's a growing city - it needs better infrastructure."
The commitment appears to trump federal Labor's previously announced $1.6 billion infrastructure fund, but WA Labor Premier Mark McGowan says that's an "apples and oranges" comparison.
"The Commonwealth government's is out to 2024-25. federal Labor's commitment is over a shorter time period," Mr McGowan said.
With the federal election a year away, the premier says "it's not over yet" and expects more commitments from both major parties.
"Western Australia is now in a bit of a sweet spot - we're now on the national political map," he said.
"People are acknowledging nationally that we've had an unfair deal and I want to make sure I use that and push that for all I'm worth."
The two main political parties are already targeting four key marginal seats in WA, including Pearce, held by Attorney-General Christian Porter, where work on the Ellenbrook line will begin next year, and Stirling, held by Human Services Minister Michael Keenan.
Both Liberal MPs were at Friday's funding announcement and also at a press conference detailing federal government cash for three Perth hospital upgrades on Thursday.
The infrastructure package amounts to $5.4 billion, with the cash-strapped state government needing to find the remaining $2.2 billion.
"We're going through our business case process to define costs, see where we can push our costs out ... our component of these things," Mr McGowan said.
"And we haven't ruled out further applications to some of the Commonwealth funds out there that are available for road and rail."
That includes trying to secure a better deal under the National Partnership Agreement for infrastructure, he said.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten spent six days in WA earlier this month and said Mr Turnbull was following Labor's lead.
"It is good to see he is in Western Australia - the statistics show since the last election he has spent more time in the USA than in WA," Mr Shorten said.
Mr Turnbull arrived on Thursday afternoon and departs on Friday evening.
Labor Member for Perth Tim Hammond described the visit as a "stopover on the way back to Sydney".
Both the prime minister and Mr Shorten have so far refused to commit to a permanent GST fix for WA, which will get 47 cents in every dollar of GST revenue this year, up from 34 cents last year.
But WA's share is still lower than all the other states, like NSW which gets 85.5 cents in the dollar.
