WA premier kicks own goal on GST: Wyatt WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett has kicked an own goal in calling on the prime minister to increase the GST rate, removing his one bargaining chip for changes to its distribution, the state opposition says. Mr Barnett has long sought a greater share of GST revenue for WA, saying the state is being ripped off. He argues that while WA has almost 11 per cent of the population, it now gets 4.9 per cent of the GST carve-up. But by suddenly calling on Tony Abbott to "take some leadership" to increase the GST, Mr Barnett has shot himself in the foot, opposition treasury spokesman Ben Wyatt says. "This coming out and demanding that Abbott break his promise and increase the GST - despite that level of flippant disregard for election promises - strikes me as a capitulation, that he's not expecting Abbott to provide any balance or change to the way GST is distributed," Mr Wyatt told AAP. Ultimately, there's only one bargaining position that WA has left: to hold out on any increases in the rate of the GST until the distribution is fixed. I think there's an element of panic: desperately looking for revenue sources as a result of the loss of the AAA. Perhaps there's also a distraction in there to move away from the last two days of debate about our destroyed financial credentials. After two days of fiery parliamentary sessions, Mr Barnett is in WA's Pilbara region, opening the new Macedon domestic gas plant.