Few would accuse Tony Abbott of dodging conflict or of not being accountable for his beliefs. But this simply makes it more puzzling that he has abandoned the field on the admittedly thorny question of the GST allocation between the states.

The failure here is acute and it represents a glaring failure of national leadership.

Western Australia is bleating hard about its projected share of GST returns dropping below 30 cents in each dollar collected according to the Commonwealth Grants Commission formula by which these things are set.

Many others within the federal Coalition agree. After all, no state has previously gone below 81 cents in the dollar whereas the west is being taken from a current record low 38 cents to under 30 cents.

Treasurer Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann (himself a West Australian senator) have both flagged special action to address the shortfall despite not one other state backing the WA cause. 

The simple fact is, the other states would never back it because more money for one state means less for the others and they simply don't vote against their own interests.

Besides, they have watched WA rake it in during the resources boom and feel decidedly unmoved by its sudden claims of penury.

Abbott's answer? He says it's a state tax and for the states to agree. Not true. The money is theirs but the revenue is amassed in Canberra and apportioned out.

read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/tony-abbott-goes-missing-in-action-on-gst-20150414-1mkza8.html