Roger Cook confident of environment law changes after Federal talks with Anthony Albanese

Roger Cook says he is confident Anthony Albanese remains a “key supporter for WA” after the Premier took the fight to keep the State’s GST deal intact to Parliament House. Mr Cook and Treasurer Rita Saffioti spent Tuesday in Canberra meeting the Prime Minister, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher to get ahead of other States, as a review of the 2018 deal threatens WA’s bottom line. A key fear for WA is that it could get short-changed on transport and other funding to placate the Eastern States eyeing off WA’s carve-out, which guarantees 75 cents for every dollar of GST revenue. “It’s true that GST and other grants represent the lowest proportion of our budget than any other State,” Mr Cook told The West in Canberra on Tuesday. “So we need to continue to make sure that we’re putting our best foot forward in terms of those other significant projects that we want to see supported by the Federal Government.” WA will launch a $1 million advertising campaign on Wednesday declaring that “WA’s GST is working for Australia.” However, promised billboards in Canberra won’t go live until Monday — well after the Premier and federal politicians have departed. Mr Cook said the Prime Minister was “obviously a key supporter for WA” in the GST debate. “We wanted to make sure that WA voices are heard in what can sometimes be a fairly loud and clunky debate,” he said. Former under-treasurer Michael Barnes flew to Canberra with the Premier as WA’s so-called chief GST “fairness” fighter. The West Australian understands high-profile WA business figures, including mining billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, businessman John Poynton, developer Nigel Satterley, and ex-Wesfarmers chair Michael Chaney will be invited to a roundtable meeting next month as lobbying efforts step-up. It is understood the hunt is on for other high-profile names who could also be brought into WA’s corner. In Perth, Housing Minister John Carey rejected concerns that the advertising campaign could backfire and prompt a backlash from other States. He denied the advertising blitz was an attempt to boost the Cook Government’s popularity locally. “The point of the campaign is to let east coast States know ‘Back off. We are the engine room of the Australian economy. You don’t have a right to reduce our GST share’,” Mr Carey said. “The Premier and the Deputy Premier, I believe, have a flat-out schedule. “This is making sure, at every opportunity that the east coast, that other State governments are very aware of our strong and resolute position to keep our GST share.” Ms Saffioti engaged in a war of words with frequent GST agitator Saul Eslake last week, after the Tasmanian economist argued WA was using the GST floor to boost its budget surplus and not spending any more than other States on economic infrastructure. The Treasurer said his figures were misleading. “Mr Eslake is being disingenuous by only using general government sector investment data, which accounts for around a third of the Government’s investment in infrastructure each year,” she said. “The remaining two thirds is undertaken by our Government Trading Enterprises, including our ports, energy and water utilities, and strategic industrial areas. “In fact, Western Australia’s total non-financial public sector spending per capita was the highest of the States in 2024-25 at $4372 per capita, despite WA receiving a lower GST share than any other State in the nation. Mr Eslake continues to use WA as a punching bag in the media, and we won’t tolerate it. “With the need to boost national productivity, the GST system should seek to reward States that grow not only their economies, but the national economy, too.” On Tuesday, Mr Cook also met with Environment Minister Murray Watt about the overhaul of environmental laws. Federal figures continue to be keen to keep the Premier on board with the overhaul of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act after WA’s opposition killed off an earlier version. But he was confident after talks with Mr Albanese and Senator Watt that the Federal Government would deal with the resources sector’s concerns. These include the definition of “unacceptable impact”, ensuring existing operations are grandfathered, and environmental protection orders. “It is clear that (Senator Watt) has had deep engagement, particularly with large resource companies which understand the importance of this legislation,” Mr Cook said. “We need national environmental law reform, but we also need to make sure that industry continues to be encouraged. Meeting those dual aims is not impossible, we can do this.” The Government has promised that its new package — which is expected to pass the lower house on Wednesday — offers faster answers on project approvals and stronger protections for the environment. It needs backing from either the Coalition or the Greens to get it through the Senate. The Coalition has five major issues with the legislation, which broadly mirror industry concerns. Shadow minister Angie Bell recalled Mr Cook’s earlier intervention while decrying the new proposal as worse than the existing laws everyone says are broken. “Why has Roger Cook been silent on the current proposed reforms, especially when business is telling us the current proposal before the house is completely unworkable? Is there another intervention coming from the west?” she asked Parliament. While a senior Greens source described the bill as “s---house”, The West understands the minor party is focused on a small number of substantial changes. They believe it’s a bill written for making a deal with the Coalition, which would be the preference of business groups, despite Senator Watt’s insistence he is equally happy with either pathway. The biggest risk in trying to deal with the Coalition side is less about the changes it wants and more on whether leader Sussan Ley will have the authority to get the deal through her party room amid internal turmoil. Neither side wants the other party dealt in, so both are staying in talks for now.