One Nation to block WA gold royalty hike

One Nation is threatening to form a bloc in the West Australian parliament to stop government-proposed hike in the state's gold royalty.

The McGowan government has controversially gazetted legislation to increase gold royalties from 2.5 per cent to 3.75 per cent, when the spot price eclipses $A1200 per ounce ($US940.70/oz).

However One Nation MP Robin Scott says the party is determined to defeat what it sees as "an ill-advised attack on West Australian jobs and West Australian prosperity".

"Five Cross-Bench parliamentarians are rock-solid on this issue. We call on the National Party and the Liberal Party to join us," she said in a statement on Friday evening.

WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy chief executive Reg Howard-Smith says the royalty increase will "be felt immediately with gold companies cutting exploration spending and reducing jobs".

"The long-term implication of cutting exploration budgets is there will be fewer gold deposits found and that will mean fewer jobs," he said earlier on Friday.

Treasurer Ben Wyatt has previously said the hike would have a negligible affect on jobs and gold companies would continue to find new deposits as they were looking for their next revenue source.