Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has sidestepped the question of whether his planned handouts for new infrastructure in Western Australia will add up to a de facto 70 per cent GST floor, saying it depends on the budget he inherits if Labor wins office.
WA's GST share is only 34c in every dollar this financial year but will rise to 47c in 2018-19.
Mr Shorten is offering WA a $1.6 billion compensation fund and says Labor's proposed de facto 70c floor is a "starting point".
"This is where we want to get but what we also have to see is what the budget numbers are," he told reporters in Perth on Sunday.
"That's where I believe we should be headed, absolutely.
"As we get closer to budgets, and as we get closer to the years that Labor could potentially be in government, we'll have to keep making sure that our 70 cents de facto floor is actually what we promise it to be.
"I'm committed to the view that Western Australia should never again experience the sort of trough that they're in now in terms of federal support."
Mr Shorten is on the first day of a six-day charm offensive in WA and says he will visit up to 11 electorates and talk with the state government about infrastructure.
"I think it is important that national leaders don't just fly in and fly out - they spend time in communities," he said.
Mr Shorten plans to take a "quokka selfie" on Rottnest Island later on Sunday, which he says is preferable to watching "the Liberal soap opera", referring to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's likely 30th Newspoll loss this week.
Australian Associated Press
