West Australian Premier Colin Barnett has claimed the state will only recover 43 per cent of the GST revenue it raises by 2014-15, and criticised a suggestion the federal government could use its financial power to deter states from raising mining royalties.
Mr Barnett condemned suggestions from Treasury secretary Ken Henry to a Senate inquiry on Monday that the federal government could consider using the "appropriations power" as leverage to persuade mining states not to raise royalties.
"We are being plundered by the likes of Julia Gillard and Ken Henry," Mr Barnett said.
In the Senate inquiry on Monday, Dr Henry faced questions about what options the federal government had to restrain future state royalty increases, The Australian Financial Review reports.
In response to a question from Coalition senator Mathias Cormann, Dr Henry said the "appropriations power affords the Commonwealth Parliament a fair degree of leverage" and that it had been used in the past.
