Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about the Productivity Commission report, which—no surprise—has been delayed. And why has it been delayed? Because the government are waiting until after the Tasmanian and the South Australian state elections. There must be a reason why they're delaying it, and it doesn't take a genius to work out that reason. Following a $210 million cut to South Australian education and schools alone, which I spoke about in this place last week, we now face the prospect in South Australia of a further drop in state revenue due to federal government pandering.

The delay of this Productivity Commission report is just another way for the incompetent Turnbull coalition government to try to win back support in WA, where they're trying to avoid the state poll consequences and also trying to avoid the backlash that the federal government is seeing in a drop in all the Gallup polls and other polls. This is a great example of the typical, incredibly lazy approach from this government, as we've seen in so many areas. They are not promoting good, long-term fiscal policies. Let's look at the facts. The draft report was handed down four months ago. Now we hear that in the draft there is a proposal for the eastern states to see a cut in GST revenue, with Western Australia picking up billions. The voters of South Australia and other states expect more from this government than to just chop and cut away to pander to a particular state where it's floundering in the polls. Voters in South Australia head off to the polls on 17 March, so why shouldn't they have access? Why shouldn't this government be up-front with them so they can see the Liberal Party's vision for the nation, which includes ripping billions of dollars of GST revenue from states like my home state of South Australia?

What makes it even more remarkable is that we haven't heard a thing on this from the South Australian Leader of the Opposition, Steven Marshall. Where is he? We haven't heard a thing from him. His opposition, by not standing up to this federal government at all, is so weak. We haven't heard boo from him. Perhaps they're not cutting—we don't know. But at least be up-front and tell us before the state election. Steven Marshall is like a wet towel on the floor with this.

In contrast, we see Premier Jay Weatherill fighting tooth and nail on this issue, as he's fought tooth and nail on many other issues. We saw him stand up to this federal government with the submarines. When the Abbott coalition government were basically telling us that we weren't going to get the submarines in South Australia, we saw Jay Weatherill, the Premier, stand up to them and fight until we did get them—unlike the opposition leader. When there are $210 million until in cuts to education, who's out there in South Australia fighting for the South Australian students and schools? It's Jay Weatherill, the Premier. We haven't heard boo from Steven Marshall and the opposition. So we need someone who will stand up and continue to stand up to the federal government's unfair policies.

What we'll see is cuts to education, roads, infrastructure, health, Aboriginal affairs, the environment, just to name a few. We will see cuts to jobs programs, which are so important in South Australia—jobs programs designed to help people from GMH and other industries that have shut down. This is an absolute disgrace, and the government must come clean with the South Australian people now. They must come clean today and tell the South Australian people what they're proposing in that Productivity Commission report.

If I'm wrong about the WA windfall, why is the federal government delaying the report? It's been out for a long time. Release it if there's nothing to hide. Let the South Australian voters, who are going to an election in a few weeks time, know up-front exactly where they stand and where this federal government stands with South Australia.

Don't get me wrong. I love WA; I've visited many times. But it's a little rich to complain about other states taking GST revenue during the mining boom and then complaining about not having enough cash when times are tough. We can't keep moving the goalposts—and they are moving for political purposes. It is about trying to win back votes in WA. People are absolutely sick of this pandering. So let's look at what other states are saying. For example, Victoria, led by the business community, had this to say:

It does little to improve the transparency, simplicity, economic efficiency, or equity of the current system …

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