Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Our job is to deliver for all Australians. In five years, the Liberal-Nationals team have made a lot of progress to deliver a strong economy and a more secure future. This government is delivering on its promise with our long-term fix to the GST that delivers for my home state of Western Australia. The Liberals' GST plan changes the GST distribution formula and introduces a permanent GST floor. This government will also invest more funding into the system so that every state is better off and every Australian stands to benefit from this fair and real fix to our GST system. A gradual rise in payments over the next eight years means no state will receive less than 75 cents in the dollar. Importantly for Western Australia, this delivers an additional $4.7 billion in GST between now and 2026-27—more funding to invest in schools, hospitals, roads and transport. The GST formula under the Liberals' plan will no longer penalise hardworking, entrepreneurial states like Western Australia that develop their resources and grow their economies. It's a fair go for those states that have a go.

But there's a bit of a problem, because in politics there are always choices. So it's fair that we have a look at where Labor is at in relation to the GST. Where is the Leader of the Opposition? Where is the shadow Treasurer? Importantly in WA, where are Labor's federal members and senators from Western Australia in relation to this important fix of the GST system? Together they've hung WA out to dry. They haven't backed this government's full GST plan. They haven't got any ideas of their own to fix the GST formula. In fact, WA Labor members and senators shamefully walked away from their home state in their own submission to the Productivity Commission's review of the GST, saying that they 'seek an outcome to this situation but one that doesn't negatively impact on other states and territories'. They had no solution of their own. In fact, Labor's solution is always the same old solution: it's about taxing you more to pay for their promises.

The Rudd and Gillard governments did nothing to fix the GST. After holding out for so long, the Leader of the Opposition has been dragged kicking and screaming to support just one part of the Liberals' GST fix in supporting a floor in the GST. The GST floor is a very important part of the plan. It's set at 70 cents and then up to 75 cents. For WA it will mean $3 billion in additional GST over eight years, which is very important for my state. It is funding that can be invested in hospitals, schools, roads and other essential infrastructure.

When it comes to fixing the GST formula, Labor will not take any action. Labor's single and shameful idea to fix the distribution of GST would not change in any way the way the distribution of the GST is arranged. Labor's refusal to even consider changing the GST formula would mean WA would miss out on $1.7 billion in additional GST. That's like funding the Roe 8 and Roe 9 projects, with millions left over to fund other vital road projects. That's like funding the Perth Stadium or dozens of schools. That's another Fiona Stanley Hospital. Labor's position is outrageous.

Western Australians have labelled Labor's GST position as smoke and mirrors because that's exactly what it is. They have no vision towards fixing the GST system. Labor, with their refusal to change the GST formula, is letting down every single Western Australian. To this date, the government has already invested an extra $1.4 billion in additional essential infrastructure and hospital funding for WA to top up our fair share of the GST. It was the first government to do so. The top-up funding has been invaluable investment in our state. The top-up funding for individual states is never going to be a long-term solution to the GST, but it's a solution. Labor's only solution is taxing Commonwealth taxpayers more.

The GST formula needed to change, and it will. The Prime Minister tasked the Productivity Commission to report on the impact of the GST distribution on national productivity and economic growth. As every single Western Australian has predicted, the PC inquiry confirmed that the system for distributing GST was broken and, indeed, needed to be fixed. The inquiry gave this government the evidence it needed to make critical long-term GST reform and reform that sticks.

As the Prime Minister said, the Productivity Commission's GST review only happened through the strong advocacy of WA Liberal members and senators, and to my colleagues I pay tribute. The hard work of WA Liberal members of parliament, senators and, indeed, all Western Australians kept this government focused on delivering this real solution. Every Western Australian knows well that the GST formula is the exact thing that created the issue of WA's abysmal share of GST off the back of the mining boom. It should be as obvious to Labor as it is to every Western Australian that the only way to fix the GST formula is to fix the GST formula. I look forward to my friend the member for Fremantle—and I welcome him back to this House—confirming that the Labor Party will indeed support adjustments to the formula and give away the notion of their tax-and-spend approach to fixing this problem—an approach that they so dearly hold onto even today.

We are committed to transitioning to a new GST system and a new GST formula over eight years, in a way that's fair and sustainable and benefits of all Australians, benchmarking all states and territories to the broad based economies of the two largest states, New South Wales or Victoria—whichever is higher. It will remove those extreme circumstances like the mining boom from Australia's GST distribution system. Entrepreneurial states that seize and develop their opportunities, like WA, will do well. They will no longer be penalised.

This government's GST changes will reinforce and protect the fair-go system used to distribute the GST. States that have a go will get a go through the new GST distribution formula. To assist the transition, the Commonwealth will provide short-term funding to ensure that no state is worse of and to make sure that no state receives less than 70c per person per dollar of GST. As I said, this rises to 75c in 2024-25. There will also be permanent additional Commonwealth contributions to the GST funding pool, so all states will benefit. This is not a bandaid. This is not a political quick fix. It was something that took time. It was something that the Treasurer, now Prime Minister, was committed to fixing in a methodical way, which will mean that this fix will stick. It's a real plan and a long-term solution, and it has been welcomed across the country.

Front pages, state-by-state, back the Prime Minister and back this government's plan on the GST. TheDaily Telegraph said:

The bottom line of landmark tax reform. Finally: a fair dinkum share, ScoMo's GST fix levels playing field …

The Herald Sun, in Victoria, wrote, 'Treasurer guarantees Vic GST.' Even The Mercury wrote, 'GST fix revealed: the land of the fair go.' The Courier Mail and The Advertiser also backed in the very good work that our prime minister has done to fix this problem that has evaded so many before him and has evaded the Labor Party totally. Importantly, The West Australian wrote:

GST fix: Treasurer delivers on promise to change formula to help WA

It's that change in formula that is ever so important. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA's Rick Newnham said, 'We've got a good solution on the table from the federal government.' The Prime Minister is clearly a friend of Western Australia as the architect of this government's GST fix, which will benefit all states and territories. The Prime Minister's leadership on the GST, on tax relief to encourage and reward hardworking Australians, backing businesses to create more jobs, getting electricity prices down and doing more to help farmers facing drought—he is delivering for all Australians.

The Liberals' plans to fix the GST will make sure the GST works for WA and for all Australians in a way that is fair and long term. It is a real solution—a long-term, permanent solution that every Labor member from WA and every Labor member of the state parliament should be supporting. The days of politics on this issue should be over. It should be acknowledged that finally we have a Treasurer—now Prime Minister—that has fixed the problem. I'll be interested to know, absolutely, whether the federal member for Fremantle will continue to play politics on this issue or whether he will join in this fix, which has been so welcomed, and make his party's position clear. Will he join us and support this fix? Will he get on, take the GST out of the realm of politics and support this fix so it can get done?

Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was great to listen to the member for Tangney finish his 10 minutes with a 180-degree turn towards bipartisanship and say, 'Let's leave politics out of all of this,' after 9½ minutes of pure politics. But I'm happy to say—and I've said this since I first came into parliament—that we need change on the GST. We need a fair deal on the GST. Federal Labor was the first side of politics to commit to a 70c floor, and we're happy to support a lift to a 75c floor. So there is agreement, belatedly, on how to get a better share for WA on the GST, and we're happy to look at the way that that change can be made permanent.

But, for the member for Tangney's benefit and for the benefit of the people of Western Australia, let's just look at this through clear eyes. We need change so that WA gets a fairer deal. It is intolerable, despite the importance of having horizontal fiscal equalisation, when a state like Western Australia falls down to a share of 30c in the dollar. It's particularly intolerable when that happens countercyclically, and that's what did happen in Western Australia. We found ourselves receiving some 30c in the dollar precisely at the time that we were going into recession. We've only just, for the first time in three years, experienced two consecutive quarters of growth. We've only just come out of the recession that was bequeathed to Western Australians by the Barnett Liberal government, just as they bequeathed to the new McGowan government $30 billion of debt. We need a change that ensures that that doesn't happen again. It has impacted on Western Australia.

Where have we got to? We have got to the point now where there's a bipartisan commitment to 70c in the dollar, rising to 75c in the dollar. But how do we get there? What's extraordinary is that the member for Tangney has the gall to stand here in the Federation Chamber and say: 'We did this. We fixed this. The Prime Minister, who's been in the chair for nine or 10 days in the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison—dot dot dot—government has fixed this.' Where is the money? Have we had one additional cent of GST out of this government in its five years? We haven't had one additional cent in GST out of this government in five years.

Consider the time line. The member for Tangney and all those on his side are happy to make a big deal about the process: 'Oh, we asked the Productivity Commission to look at it.' They asked the Productivity Commission to look at it. They put the Productivity Commission report date back so that it conveniently fell at a time beyond the most recent budget. Does the solution that they've now put forward have anything to do with the recommendations of the Productivity Commission? No, absolutely not. The Productivity Commission said, 'This is the way to deal with it.' The solution that the member for Tangney and his government have come up with has nothing to do with that. So why did they wait for the Productivity Commission report that they delayed beyond the 2018-19 budget? Precisely so that they wouldn't have to put their hand in their pocket and pay one additional cent to Western Australia.

I've put a question in writing to the Treasurer on this: I'd like to know when the Treasurer asked Treasury for the costings that form the basis of the plan. I'd like to know when he took that plan to cabinet. There's no doubt it was before the Productivity Commission report landed, because the plan has nothing to do with the Productivity Commission report. The question is: did it happen before the budget, and, if so, why wasn't that 70c-in-the-dollar solution delivered in the 2018-19 budget? Do you know how much that would have been worth to Western Australia? This government could have delivered $1.8 billion this financial year. What are they going to deliver? They're going to deliver zero, because, by the time we get to next May, we'll have an election and these jokers more than likely won't be here anymore. They have done absolutely nothing for Western Australia and they have conned the people of Western Australia to some extent—in fact I don't think they have, because I think the people of Western Australia get it. They have conned some in the commentariat. The fact that they've conned the CCI of Western Australia is no great surprise considering the ambitions that are held by some of the people involved over there.

I think it was the middle Prime Minister of this government—I can't keep count which one; it wasn't the current one—who floated the idea of a 70c floor more than two years ago. How did we get to a 70c floor? There were two factors. The first was a commitment from federal Labor to a 70c floor. We committed to it and we budgeted for it. The second ingredient was the election of the WA Labor McGowan government. After eight years the cosy relationship between the Barnett Liberal government and the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison—dot, dot, dot; watch this space—government suddenly came to an end, and the McGowan government held the backsides of Liberal members in Western Australia to the fire and said: 'Did you have a look at those results in March 2017? Do you know what will happen if you jokers don't come along with something sensible?'

It was only at that point, out of mortal fear, that there was finally some move on part of the 11 House of Representatives coalition members and all their senators—all of their riches, all of their cabinet members, all of this influence that did nothing for four years. The state government did nothing for eight years. Finally, as with every motivation of this government, when they sniff the cold wind of electoral oblivion, they get a bit desperate and decide, 'We better do something.' They came on board with Labor's 70c floor and added to that a 75c floor in the relatively distant future. We are happy to support that, because it was our idea. It was the solution that the WA Labor McGowan government has essentially forced people like the member for Tangney and all his colleagues into out of mortal fear that there won't be very many of them left when the people of Western Australia, who have already passed judgement on them at the state level, pass judgement on them at the federal level. But the people of Western Australia are not fools. The fact that you keep running colour full-page ads in The West Australian saying that the GST problem has been solved, and they haven't seen a single additional dollar through a sharp and bitter recession, is not lost on the people of Western Australia.

Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recession? What recession?

Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The recession in Western Australia—many quarters of falling demand in Western Australia, for the member for Tangney's benefit. That's the definition of recession: falling state demand, record high unemployment.

Mr Morton interjecting—

For the member for Tangney's benefit, we've just had two consecutive quarters of growth. We've broken the recession that was bequeathed to the people of Western Australia by the Barnett government, during which time the member for Tangney was the state Liberal director of Western Australia.

In any case, let me finish by pointing out something else. Let's not forget in Western Australia. Let's not allow the GST to cover a multitude of sins. The GST has been very poor because of Liberal federal and state governments. We've fixed the first part. We have a McGowan Labor state government. Now we're going to try to fix the next part. That's when we'll deal with the GST. In the meantime let's not, with our focus on the GST, ignore all other areas where this coalition government has short-changed Western Australia. We are getting far and away the worst deal when it comes to the NBN. The fibre-to-the-node, 19th-century copper technology is without doubt the worst NBN technology, and Western Australia is getting 60 per cent of its line network in fibre-to-the-node, which is half as much again as any other jurisdiction. New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria are all getting around 40 per cent of their line network in fibre-to-the-node, a much higher proportion of fibre-to-the-curb and a much higher proportion of fibre-to-the-premises. We're getting 60 per cent.

When NBN decided earlier this year that they were going to provide an additional 400,000 premises with fibre-to-the-curb, did they use that to help correct what was going on in Western Australia? No. We got less than 10 per cent of the additional premises. We are being short-changed on the NBN. We are getting ripped off when it comes to the ABC. The member for Moore has had a recent conversion to the practice of honesty and transparency. The member for Moore has come out and said that we're getting a terrible deal on shipbuilding, and that's why he had to support the end of that Prime Minister in the middle that I was talking to you about before—Mr Turnbull. The member for Moore had to support bringing him down because he acknowledged we were getting a terrible deal on defence shipbuilding. So we do need to fix the GST. We need a federal Shorten Labor government to do that and to fix all the other ways in which we've been taken for granted by the Liberals for too long.