TASMANIAN Palmer United Party Senator-elect Jacqui Lambie says struggling Tasmania and booming Western Australia both deserve a greater share of GST revenue.
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Ms Lambie has reassured Tasmanians they will not be worse off under PUP's push for Western Australia to keep every dollar it generates, despite Tasmania relying on richer states.
During the campaign in the lead up to the Senate election do-over in WA, PUP leader Clive Palmer campaigned strongly on the issue.
The strategy appears to have paid off with a PUP candidate likely to be elected, which would give PUP the balance of power in the Senate.
Yesterday, Ms Lambie said NSW and Victoria would be the only states that would be disadvantaged by the plan, although ‘‘nothing’s been put down on paper’’.
‘‘It won’t affect Tasmania. It probably needs to be done more fairly.’’
Western Australia's state government has been calling for an overhaul of the way GST is redistributed, which would gut Tasmania's state budget by up to $700 million.
Under the formula, for every dollar Tasmania generates, it gets $1.63 back, while WA gets just 44cents back due to its mining-driven prosperity.
Ms Lambie will take her seat on the Senate cross benches in July with the proposed acing of the SchoolKids bonus set to be one of her first tests.
The Deferal Coalition has linked the payment for lower income families with primary and high school students to the repeal of the mining tax.
PUP has strongly supported getting rid of the mining tax.
Ms Lambie said yesterday she would work with the Liberal party to save the bonus.