The Federal Government wanted to reform GST distribution but thought it would be impossible to persuade Queensland.

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So the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for WA briefed INDUSTRIAL Australia and JWS Research to work on a solution.

 

Focus groups quickly confirmed we couldn’t talk about 'fairness' – because what’s fair to one person often seems unfair to the next person.

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What focus groups did show was how proud Queenslanders are of their State. So they were surprised when told Queensland needs subsidies from Victoria and NSW to help pay for their essential services. So the message was: No State should get left behind but every State should do more to pay their own way.

 

That was the right message – but how do you effectively say it?

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The answer lay in the creative application of this parochial insight combined with a cognitive bias called 'social proof' (this refers to how people follow how the majority are thinking when they are unsure of how to think themselves).

 

Ultimately, the work gave the Federal Government the confidence that they could handle any push back - so they never had to run the creative, and the legislation sailed through.

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