Barnett defends luxury jet to Canberra

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett is playing down the irony of flying to Canberra on a luxury jet on the eve of a meeting of the nation's leaders where he'll ask for a handout.

Mr Barnett arrived in Canberra on the private plane on Thursday while other state and territory leaders flew commercial.

"The state government owns the jet, it's not private," Mr Barnett told reporters in Canberra.

Freedom of information documents obtained by the Seven Network show the WA government leases the plane and flights cost on average $47,000.

Faced with sliding royalties from a steep drop in iron ore prices and the risk of another credit rating downgrade, WA wants more GST money than the paltry 30 cents in the dollar being offered under the Grant Commission's formula for 2015/16.