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ABC News
ABC News
Politics
By Jacob Kagi

Turnbull believes the west has been won back

Malcolm Turnbull meets workers in Perth.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull believes he has won the trust of West Australians on the back of plans to overhaul the GST carve-up and deliver the state billions of dollars in extra revenue.

Mr Turnbull made the comments as he kicked off a three-day Perth visit — his first trip west since the Government announced its response to years of anger over WA's dwindling GST share.

The plan, which would see extra federal funds put into the GST pool and every state's share increase, would provide WA an extra $4.7 billion over eight years.

The Federal Government is now hoping to secure the agreement of all state and territories to the plan at a meeting of treasurers next month.

Prior to the GST announcement, there had been fears among some Liberals that the party would be punished at the ballot box in WA for not addressing the issue.

But Mr Turnbull said his Government now had a clear record of delivering for WA.

"We'll be calling on West Australians to vote for the Liberal Party because they know that they can trust my Government to deliver a fair deal on the GST," Mr Turnbull said.

"They absolutely can bank on it, this is a commitment that we have made."

The visit marked Mr Turnbull's first trip to WA since the controversial decision by the Liberal Party not to contest the Fremantle and Perth by-elections, handing Labor easy wins in both.

But Mr Turnbull defended that decision, insisting neither seat was winnable, despite Perth being held by Labor by a margin of just 3.3 per cent ahead of the by-election.

"I know people in Perth well enough to know that they're interested in what the Government is doing for them, not whether we should or shouldn't have run a candidate in a by-election a couple of weeks back," Mr Turnbull said.

'WA being discriminated against': McGowan

The WA Government used Mr Turnbull's visit to renew its call for the Commonwealth to extend an arrangement to fund remote community housing, amid a tense standoff.

The previous deal expired earlier this year and negotiations between the two governments have reached an impasse, with WA launching a national advertising campaign to express its anger.

WA Premier Mark McGowan said his state was being discriminated against.

"I'm sure if they lived in a marginal seat the Federal Government would show more interest," he said.

"These are disadvantaged Australians and they deserve a better deal."

But Mr Turnbull said it was up to the WA Government to make its own funding commitments to end the impasse.

"What we're waiting on is the WA Labor Government to respond and say how much it will invest specifically in remote housing," he said.

Mr Turnbull will address the WA Liberal Party's state conference on Saturday.

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