Colin Barnett
WEST Australian Liberal Premier Colin Barnett has offered to come and work in Tasmania in order to fix its economy if he loses his job.
On the WA campaign trail yesterday, Mr Barnett said: ``I think she (Tasmanian Labor Premier Lara Giddings) should look at the Tasmanian economy.
``They should be doing a lot, lot better. You know, when I leave this job maybe I'll go down and hire myself out for a year to run Tasmania.
``It wouldn't take much to get the Tasmanian economy moving.''
He made the comments in response to a speech from Ms Giddings to the National Press Club, in which she criticised Mr Barnett for ``crying poor'' when his state was rolling in mining riches.
As The Examiner revealed yesterday, Ms Giddings challenged her mainland counterparts in the speech to take a tour of the state before criticising it.
``You've all heard the claims - Tasmania is backward, a mendicant state, the Greece of Australia, closed for business,'' she said.
``Too often Tasmania is used as either the national whipping boy or a soft target for strategies designed to win the votes of environmentally conscious voters in the inner-city suburbs of Melbourne and Sydney.''
Mr Barnett, who faces the polls on March 9, described Tasmania as a ``mendicant'' state as part of an ongoing stoush over GST revenue.
The Examiner asked all Liberal premiers whether they planned to take up Ms Giddings's offer of a tour.
A spokeswoman for Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu said his government enjoyed a positive working relationship with Tasmania, as evidenced by the firefighters who flew over to help battle last month's bushfires.
She said Mr Baillieu had visited Tasmania last year, and looked forward to returning in six weeks for a ministerial council meeting.
``Premier Baillieu's criticism lies squarely with (Prime Minister) Julia Gillard regarding the $6.1 billion in GST receipts that have been ripped from Victoria under the federal Labor government,'' the spokeswoman said.
A spokesman for New South Wales Premier Barry O'Farrell said the leader had taken his family on a holiday to Tasmania in 2009.
``He is too busy running NSW to take potshots at Tasmania,'' the spokesman said.
Staff of Queensland Premier Campbell Newman, who used to live in Tasmania, did not respond before deadline.