Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann

The Turnbull Government will top up Western Australia’s share of the GST by investing an additional $188.9 million in the state’s hospital infrastructure in the 2018-19 Budget.

This funding injection will expand and improve hospital facilities, help save lives and improve patient care.

Significantly, it also ensures that Western Australia’s share of the GST is effectively lifted to 0.5 for next year.

We are committed to helping Western Australia deal with some of the health challenges identified by the WA State Government.

This fully funded commitment will better enable the State to provide essential health services that Western Australians deserve and rely on. It is guaranteed funding facilitated by the Turnbull Government’s prudent Budget management.

Western Australia continues to receive the lowest share of GST revenue as a proportion of population share of any State or Territory. The hospitals investment recognises this by effectively lifting Western Australia’s share of the GST to 0.5 for next year.

Under the current formula, further increases in WA’s share of the GST are projected in coming years.

The decision to make this additional investment follows similar decisions over the past three years. The Commonwealth has provided $1.4 billion in GST top up payments to WA so far.

This year, based on discussions with the WA State Government, the additional Commonwealth investment will support three key projects:

$158 million towards the Joondalup Health Campus expansion which will include: 90 new public beds; 75 new mental health beds; a new stroke unit; 3 new cardiac catheter laboratories; a new 25 bed Coronary Care Unit, allowing for further expansion of the existing High Dependency Unit; an urgent care clinic; an ambulatory care centre; and a Medihotel facility. This investment will ensure Joondalup Health Campus can further develop its capacity to care for more complex patients closer to home.

$10.6 million towards the Osborne Park Hospital Expansion which will include a neo-natal facility upgrade and additional rehabilitation beds.

$20.3 million towards the refurbishment of the Royal Perth Hospital, including the mental health observation unit and Medihotel.

The Government looks forward to receiving the Productivity Commission’s final report of its review into GST distribution, established to examine the impact of the current distribution method on our national economy including in Western Australia.