The $5 billion health reforms being canvassed by the Labor Government have met with resistance from the coalition government in Western Australia. It needs to be noted that earlier this year, all states had signed up for the reforms, except Western Australia.

While talking about the refusal to sign Liberal Senator Marthia Cormann stated that the proposal by the Commonwealth did not clarify, the amount that has to be paid by each state out of their GST to receive extra funding for the health departments of the state. The senator further added that the deal was useless, until unless, WA is not party to the deal.

The reason provided by Mr. Cormann was that the 1999 GST agreement stated that no changes could be made to the arrangement, until a consensus is reached with all Australian states. Though, in contrast to the Senator, Health Minister Nicola Roxen has stated that the amount that has to be paid out of GST has been clear, since the time all states had signed up for the reforms in the month of April.

Ms. Roxen further stated that the reforms had been implemented to check responsibility in relation to the extra funding that would be provided for health services in states.

The reforms have met with considerable opposition, especially after an article by The Australian had reported that the funding would not be divided among the states, in proportion to the money they pay to the central government.