GST push as WA Premier Mark McGowan quits, too tired to keep going

Anthony Albanese faces a potential new push to unwind GST arrangements and a more cohesive approach to China after the WA Premier’s resignation.

29/5/2023 WA Premier Mark McGowan announces he is quitting politics. Sarah his wife on his right side. Pic Colin Murty

Anthony Albanese faces a potential new push to unwind the country’s GST arrangements and a more cohesive approach to China after the nation’s most popular politician, West Australian Premier Mark McGowan, shocked his state and quit despite winning the biggest election victory in Australian history only two years ago.

Mr McGowan – whose draconian Covid-19 border controls and ardent advocacy for a greater share of GST revenues helped him become the highest-rated leader since Newspoll began – on Monday surprised both colleagues and the public by declaring he was too tired to continue in the role.

The race to succeed him appears to be between Health Minister and rising star Amber-Jade Sanderson and Mr McGowan’s long-serving deputy Roger Cook.

Mr McGowan’s national cabinet colleagues praised the outgoing leader, but Tasmania immediately demanded the commonwealth revisit the GST deal.

Both NSW Premier Chris Minns and Victoria’s Daniel Andrews have flagged their desire to revisit the distribution of GST.

 Flanked by his ministers – many of whom had tears in their eyes – and his wife Sarah, Mr McGowan cited pent-up pressure of the Covid years and the combativeness of political life for his decision to end his political career.

“I’m not naturally a combative person. I’m not naturally confrontational. But every day I have to engage in argument and debate and confrontation in one way or another,” Mr McGowan said. “And I’m kind of tired of it. That’s political life, and if you don’t want to do that don’t get into politics.”

The Prime Minister led tributes to the retiring WA leader and praised his legacy-defining decision to close Western Australia off to the world and the rest of the ­nation for nearly two years .

“He stood strong against the claims that WA people should just open up; he did the right thing in order to keep West Australians safe,” Mr Albanese said.

Mr McGowan led negotiations with the then-Turnbull government that delivered the 2018 GST reforms that have pumped up to $6bn a year in additional cash into WA Treasury’s coffers, helping his government deliver successive operating surpluses at a time when other states and territories are faced with ballooning debt levels.

The nation’s other states have been adamant that the federal government extend its promise to top up the GST payments to other states. That promise is currently due to expire in 2026-27.

A Tasmanian government spokesman said the state still wanted to see that commitment extended. “Our position remains the same – the commonwealth government needs to commit to a permanent extension of the ‘no worse off’ guarantee,” the spokesman said

Mr McGowan’s departure also marks the end of the political ­career of one of the biggest supporters of China in Australian politics. The nation’s top foreign policy experts on Monday said no other premier or chief minister had taken as strong an alternative approach to foreign policy as Mr McGowan. Defence Strategic ­Review co-author Peter Dean said after Mr McGowan’s resignation that the need for cohesion across all states had never been so ­important.

“Mark McGowan was entitled to his view, the federal government is entitled to their view, but what is in the best interests of the country is a co-ordinated approach that is key to the agreed direction the commonwealth is taking out of the Defence Strategic Review,” he said.

On tax reform, the federal ­government has repeatedly stressed it will not change its commitment to maintaining the current GST arrangements at least until they are reviewed later this decade.

The four WA seats Labor gained at last year’s federal election were crucial in bringing Mr Albanese to power.

Mr McGowan’s concerns about the potential of other states to try to unwind the GST ­reforms prompted him to add the treasurer’s role to his responsibilities after his 2021 election landslide.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk commended her WA counterpart for working “tirelessly” in his role.

“He‘s been a strong leader for his state, particularly during the pandemic,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

Mr McGowan spent more than five years as opposition leader, helping instil discipline in a party that had lost its way during the final years of the Carpenter Labor government. He never had strong factional support within Labor, which contributed to a short-lived challenge to his role as opposition leader by former foreign minister Stephen Smith in 2016. The next year, however, he led Labor to resounding victory over a Colin Barnett-led government that had outstayed its welcome.

His fiscal restraint – including a controversial freeze on public sector wage rises – helped establish economic credentials that made him a more palatable option for rusted-on Liberal voters by the time of the 2021 pandemic election, when Labor won an incredible 53 of 59 lower house seats, reducing the Liberal Party to just two seats. The National Party, which retained four seats, became the official opposition.

Mr Cook – was the first to put his hand up to replace Mr McGowan on Monday. “We also need the leadership to take WA on the next stage of fulfilling our government’s vision to diversify and grow the WA economy,” he said.

“As a born-and-bred Western Australian, I will always champion our state and all of the ­communities that make it the best place to live in Australia at every opportunity.”

Ms Sanderson has been considered a rising star of the party, but she is yet to serve a full term as a minister and risks being painted as too inexperienced for the top job. She has also not held the breadth of portfolios of Mr Cook. The WA Health Minister is yet to confirm her intentions, although sources close to her believe she is inclined to run for the premiership.

Transport Minister Rita Saffioti is also considered a potential candidate, although she does not have the strong factional support of the other contenders.

A Labor victory at the 2025 state election – a near-certainty given the party’s majority – would have given Mr McGowan the opportunity to become the longest-serving Labor premier in WA history. But he said he had realised he did not have the energy for another campaign. “The truth is I’m tired, extremely tired. In fact, I’m exhausted,” he said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: Matthew Denholm,
Sarah Ison