The Western Australian government and Australian tarriff policies

Australian Resource Development and the National Fragmentation Thesis

“…The resource-rich States have argued that they are effectively subsidizing the inefficient producers of highly protected goods in the southeast States: consumers in the periphery ensure a net flow of tariff benefits to the 'core' States. However, as Warhurst (1982) has shown, the Western Australian government has played a double game; while denouncing protection for the southeast, it has sought protection for its own small secondary industries when their interests seemed under threat. Indeed, State governments have increasingly become advocates for their local industries in hearings conducted by the IAC (Warhurst 1980).…”