'Jobs at risk over ore threat'
Colin Barnett is risking investment and jobs in WA's most important industry by threatening iron ore exports, Opposition Leader Mark McGowan has warned.
Mr McGowan said the Premier's populist stance over the GST would turn major international investors off WA.
And he said Mr Barnett's plans would ultimately fail as other countries lifted iron ore production to fill the void left by major WA producers.
Mr Barnett, battling for a bigger share of the nation's $57.2 billion GST pie, revealed at the weekend he had power to stop miners from shipping iron ore out of WA.
He said he also had powers over expansion, which some miners were considering despite the recent sharp fall in iron ore prices.
State Treasury had forecast iron ore to sell this year for $US75 a tonne but it has crashed to below $US50/t, punching a massive hole in Government coffers.
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Mr Barnett did not get a better GST deal for WA at the Council of Australian Governments meeting on Friday but appears to have reached a deal with the Federal Government to bring forward funding for infrastructure.
Also, a review of State-Federal relations will examine whether a floor rate can be introduced so a State's share does not fall below that level.
Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey said yesterday it was "clearly unfair" for a State to get less than one-third of the GST its citizens paid. But he said any help would be a two-way street and WA had to undertake some economic reforms other States had.
Mr McGowan said BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto had affected world iron ore prices with their language but it was Mr Barnett putting at risk jobs and investment with his threat to block shipments out of WA.
"If you're an international investor looking at WA and see a premier threatening to close the ports, all you can think of is the sovereign risk involved," he said.
“This is something you’d expect from Hugo Chavez or Nasser in the Suez Crisis. It harks back to the days of the 1950s, not 2015.”
Mr McGowan said even Mr Barnett’s plans to reduce WA iron ore production in a bid to bring “equilibrium” back to the global market was destined to fail.
“WA produces 25 per cent of the world’s iron ore. If we stop, then Brazil or Russia or the higher cost producers in China will just fill the void,” he said.
“We will have cut production and will never get it back.”
