A bigger slice of the pie or a magic pudding? The proposal to reform how the GST is distributed has been greeted with both reserved optimism and scepticism by the states, as they work to digest what it means.

Queensland was one of the first out of the blocks. Its premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said she would reserve her state’s judgment until after the modelling was made clear.

She said she had spoken to the prime minister before the review’s release but had not yet seen any detail.

“We need to see the modelling,” she said. “The modelling has not yet been provided to myself as the premier, to the treasurer, or to our Treasury officials and we do need to see that modelling as soon as possible.

“It does seem to me to be highly ironic that all of a sudden there is a pie that gets bigger.

“Where is the money coming from? I will not stand to see any cuts to services, especially our hospitals and schools across Queensland. It appears that this is more of a magic pudding than it is a pie that continues to increase.”

Queensland is one of the beneficiaries of the current system and, under the changes, could expect to be $518m better off overall.

Palaszczuk’s response has so far been the most reticent. Her Labor colleague Ben Wyatt, the Western Australian treasurer, labelled the proposal “a pragmatic and creative response”.

WA’s budget is to receive an additional $3.3bn by 2026-27, with a new “floor” of 70 cents in the dollar put forward. WA’s share fell to 30 cents after the mining boom, making GST reform one of the state’s highest priorities.

The federal government has previously offered top-ups but tied the money to infrastructure projects. If adopted, WA will not have restrictions on how it spends the additional funds.

In order to offset the additional funds, the federal government has recommended it offset the pool, which has led to Queensland’s scepticism and WA’s relief.

“That is fundamental,” Wyatt said. “To get the buy-in we’re looking for, you couldn’t have a scenario where one state is particularly worse off.”

Western Australia and Queensland will prove instrumental at the next federal election. Both have a large number of Coalition MPs facing election wipeout.

The finance minister, Mathias Cormann, led his federal colleagues in welcoming the proposal, speaking in front of a backdrop of Liberal MPs.

“The initial response right across the country, on a non-partisan basis, has been positive, open-minded and people have been prepared to work through the detail,” Cormann said.

Victorian Labor’s acting premier, James Merlino, warned of the “devil in the detail” but said the state was waiting to see the modelling, while New South Wales welcomed the changes.

“For too long the unofficial motto of Queensland has been ‘beautiful one day, subsidised by NSW the next’,” the NSW treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, said.

“The people of Queensland would be embarrassed to know their schools, roads and hospitals are being paid for by NSW taxpayers.”

Labor’s federal shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, was also reserved, questioning where the money would come from.

“We’ve always said Western Australia has legitimate concerns,” he said. “We said that in Perth, we said it in Hobart, we said it in Brisbane.

“But we have also said that, under our model, no state or territory would be worse off. Now, Scott Morrison said that was nonsense, you couldn’t top up GST payments from the commonwealth, that it was not the way forward, and now he is proposing to lock top-ups in, in a very considerable way.

“Not just for Western Australia but for other states and territories as well.

“So states and territories and Australians who are interested in good funding for schools and hospitals are entitled to be very cynical, are entitled to expect guarantees from this government.”

The state’s treasurers will meet with Morrison in September to discuss the plan. While the commonwealth can move forward with changes to the distribution formula without the states’ approval, Morrison has said he wants to do it with consensus, to ensure continuity in the event of a changed federal government.