WA Opposition Leader Mike Nahan

If nothing else, yesterday’s “WAxit” motion at the Western Australian Liberal Party’s state conference succeeded in garnering an outsized share of news space on a quiet Sunday.

Beyond that, the establishment of a party committee to consider ways to pursue “financial independence” — the word “financial” being a late addition to the motion, to keep the embarrassment caused to the parliamentary wing within acceptable limits — is obviously not to be taken seriously.

However, that’s not to say that the political implications of WA’s present meagre share of GST revenue are to be dismissed out of hand, particularly as they relate to the next federal election.

The west’s plight tends not to arouse much sympathy in the eastern states, whether among voters, economics commentators or other state governments.

Locally, however, the endlessly invoked figure of a 34% return on GST revenue cannot fail to be politically emotive, particularly as the state discovers what life is like on the wrong end of the nation’s two-speed economy.

The issue provided fuel for Labor’s unprecedented landslide win at the March state election, assisted by the fact that state Labor was twice disconnected from responsibility for the matter, which was instead worn by the Liberal Party generally, and the Turnbull government in particular.

However, the situation will be quite different at a federal election, as Bill Shorten will be judged on what his party actively has on offer — which, owing to the zero-sum nature of the revenue distribution game, looks likely to be tokenistic at best.

This seems particularly notable in light of the populist upheavals that have rocked countries throughout the Western world in recent years, in which regionalism has been an active ingredient nearly as often as xenophobia.

The more benign manifestations have included the near-success of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum and the ensuing electoral triumphs of the Scottish National Party, and the spectacular successes of Nick Xenophon and his party in South Australia.

Even in the happiest of circumstances, Western Australia would seem ripe for a similar outbreak, given its physical and psychological distance from the business end of the country.

[When a problem comes along, you must WAxit: a history of WA’s attempts to secede]

So it’s no surprise that more than one entrepreneur has been testing the waters for a single-issue states’ rights party of late, with a view to fielding candidates at the next federal election.

Assuming there’s something behind his claim to be acting in collaboration with others who are “highly experienced in the business world”, the more promising of the two appears to be that linked to property developer Nigel Satterley — an often belligerent activist in Liberal Party affairs, who made headlines last year by hawking privately conducted polling in a bid to provoke a challenge against Colin Barnett.

Voters in WA have shown on a number of occasions how receptive they can be to advertising campaigns that beat the drum for parochial interests on behalf of powerful business concerns.

The mining industry’s campaign against the Rudd government’s mining tax crippled Labor in 2010, and state Nationals leader Brendon Grylls was blasted out of his seat under similar circumstances in March, having devised a plan to increase the state’s mining royalty revenue.

Clive Palmer also found plenty of local buyers for his perishable brand of snake oil in 2014, scoring a career best result of 12.3% for the Palmer United Party after blitzing the airwaves during the state’s Senate election re-run, with an all care, no responsibility promise on GST revenue forming part of his pitch.

So while there’s very little chance of WA getting what it wants on revenue, and still less of it attaining financial or any other sort of independence, it’s more than possible that its GST rebellion will have a contribution to make to another sprawling and unmanageable Senate crossbench for the next government to contend with.