Federal Labor Leader Bill Shorten has renewed his call for Western Australia to be given one-off financial assistance as a "circuit-breaker" to the GST carve-up fight.
As state and territory leaders meet with the prime minister in Canberra, the federal Labor leader's solution is for the commonwealth to provide WA with about $300 million to help prop up its finances.
"Do something in this budget, not wait till there's a train wreck," Mr Shorten told reporters in Perth.
"Be part of the solution, not the problem. Now is the time for action, not next year."
He said the suggestion was separate to his call for the federal government not to interfere with the independence of the Commonwealth Grant Commission process for GST distribution.
"Separate to that, I do believe that the commonwealth as steward of our national financial system should bring forward expenditure.
"And Labor is saying to Tony Abbott 'we'll work with you - were not going to give you a hard time over this aspect of the budget because Western Australia needs support now'."
Mr Shorten said he was pleased to hear WA Premier Colin Barnett was optimistic of finalising a deal with the prime minister.
Member for Perth Alannah MacTiernan chipped in, saying Mr Barnett had sold his GST argument poorly.
"He's behaved like a Don Quixote, going out there, making an argument that was never going to get anywhere and not doing the detailed work that needed to be done to show that WA actually, within that principle of fairness, needed to have more."
Asked whether the WA Premier was correct in saying he had been ganged up on by other states, Mr Shorten said: "I'd have to say, you wouldn't necessarily give Colin Barnett a Logie for the way he's conducted negotiations this week".
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