Prime Minister Julia Gillard threatens the "very fabric of cooperation in our federation" with plans to penalise states for mining royalty increases, West Australian Premier Colin Barnett says.The federal government's mining tax is a grab for the wealth of Western Australia, he's told reporters in Perth on Tuesday.On Monday federal Labor won over key independents to its resources tax.The premier said 65 per cent of the revenue from the Mineral Resources Rent Tax (MRRT) would come from WA so it was basically a tax on WA.He said that was at a time when WA was not getting a fair deal from the federal government on its share of GST revenue - only receiving 70 cents in the dollar back when the big eastern states were getting more than 90 cents.More pain for WA would come with Ms Gillard's deal with federal independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott, "these two self-appointed rulers of Australia", Mr Barnett said.He said a letter to them from Ms Gillard said the government wanted the GST review to look at mechanisms "to penalise and discourage those states which undertake any further royalty increases"."I find that absolutely abhorrent," Mr Barnett said."One of the jobs of the prime minister is to defend the constitution and to maintain cohesion within the Australian constitution."Prime Minister Julia Gillard is not doing that."She threatens the very fabric of cooperation in our federation."
