Trouble brewing for happy family

NEVILLE Wran became a Labor hero when he led his party to victory in NSW in 1976, just six months after the sensational sacking of Gough Whitlam’s federal government and subsequent election rout had left Labor in disarray.

But Mr Wran was also a realist. He had federal ambitions. He wanted to be the next Labor prime minister.

It was not a secret. All of which made for a cool relationship with the new federal leader, Queenslander Bill Hayden, who was doing a workmanlike job of rebuilding the party nationally after the Whitlam-led drubbing in 1977.

Asked in 1978 whether he ever met with Mr Hayden to discuss the party’s fortunes, Mr Wran seemed nonplussed, indicating such events were rare.

After a pause, he offered: “You see, the Labor Party is just like one big happy family”. Another pause, and the hint of a smile: “We leave each other alone”.

Actually, Mr Wran really wanted Mr Hayden’s job as a stepping-stone to The Lodge. For the record, Mr Wran retired in 1986 after an unbroken 10-year term as NSW premier, and never made it to Canberra.

His ambition was thwarted once Bob Hawke decided to step down as ACTU president and contest the 1980 federal election. There wasn’t room for two such ambitious leaders in the Labor caucus.

The relationship between today’s federal and state Labor leaders – Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the premiers of all mainland states – promises to become increasingly important as (outgoing) Western Australian Premier and Treasurer Mark McGowan defends the GST deal that guarantees a minimum 70 cents in the dollar refund on WA’s contributions.

As Mr McGowan said in his recent budget speech, without that guarantee – struck with Scott Morrison who was federal treasurer at the time – WA’s return would be just 10 cents for each GST dollar generated here, to offset the billions from mining royalties.

And for each extra dollar WA gets under this 2018 deal, which is due to be expire in 2026-27, the other states get a top-up from the Commonwealth as compensation.

Which means they don’t lose. But some are still unhappy that WA is the beneficiary of a special deal.

The clear inference is that if there are special deals to be had, they should be to their benefit, not WA’s, even if everyone falls within Labor’s one big happy family.

And there is support for this view within the Canberra commentariat.

Philip Coorey, writing in the Australian Financial Review, referred to the “[I]ncreasingly disastrous GST deal Morrison as treasurer cut for WA … (which) is now giving WA a far greater share of revenue than it should ever have been entitled to.

Think of that when McGowan rubs another budget surplus in everyone’s faces … as if it was all his own work.”

Interviewing Treasurer Jim Chalmers on the ABC’s Insiders program, David Speers asked whether there could be any justification for this deal now.

Dr Chalmers’ response would have been music to Mr McGowan’s ears. “I think there is David,” he said.

“This is in recognition of the really quite remarkable contribution that the people and industries of WA make to our economy nationally, and to the national budget as well.

“And I think it is a good thing that we guarantee the floor of GST revenue out west, at the same time as we have said, and we have honoured a deal, that says none of the other states are worse off as a consequence of that deal.”

But Mr McGowan is leaving nothing to chance, noting that anything less than the current deal would be “contemptible and offensive”.

“It’s a red line that should not be crossed by any future federal government,” he added.

Mr McGowan has even boosted resources for “the dedicated team within Treasury to safeguard our fair share”.

Given the attention that Mr Albanese has focused on WA – he has been a more frequent visitor than any PM in living memory – it’s unlikely the GST arrangement will be upset.

However, the premier is leaving nothing to chance.

Mr Wran’s description of Labor as one big happy family might apply for now, but even happy families have been known to have serious disagreements, especially over money.