Well, this is one way around the moral hazard problem at large in bailing out Comrade Colin:
Joe Hockey has held out the prospect of a special GST rescue package only if the Barnett Government radically reshapes the State’s finances and economy.
In an extraordinary game of brinkmanship, the Federal Treasurer signalled WA should sell its electricity poles and wires, deregulate its shopping hours and eliminate “anomalous” business practices, believed to include the Potato Marketing Corporation.
…Mr Hockey, who said he could not simply hand over cash to WA, made it clear there would have to be change in the WA economy.
Although this seems dramatic, one wonders if there’s not a little theater going on with Hockey demanding reforms already in train…
