You sort GST out, PM tells states

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has told the state and territories it's up to them to sort out how they carve up up revenue from the GST.

"Collectively they should make a decision and being the grown-up adult governments that they are, that's what I expect them to do," he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.

While expressing sympathy for Western Australia's financial plight in the wake of slumping iron ore prices, Mr Abbott said the GST - worth about $57 billion next year - was a tax that belonged to the states.