Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Scrutiny of Government Waste Committee) Share this | Hansard source

I stand in accordance with Senator Fifield in supporting the Tax Laws Amendment (2009 GST Administration Measures) Bill 2009 and note the Labor Party’s support for the GST despite their protestations and accusations that it is such an evil and detrimental initiative for our country. I also note that two days ago the Prime Minister announced in Tasmania and repeated his plan to rip off the states of some 30 per cent of their GST revenue to use it for what he describes as a takeover of the funding of public hospitals in this country. The GST is critical, obviously, because it is a growth tax and has been very beneficial to the expenditures of the states and state governments, particularly in Tasmania. The Report on GST revenue sharing relativities—2010 review notes that, compared with 2009-10, Tasmania’s share of the GST revenue remained constant at 3.7 per cent. The report goes on to say that the growth in the GST revenue available has led to a $91 million increase in the state’s assessed GST. That is a benefit to Tasmania.

But what I am concerned about is the waste, mismanagement and maladministration of that funding by the state Labor government in Tasmania. I notice a ‘spendometer’ has been released today by the independent TCCI. It is regarded by all political parties as the most accurate gauge of election spending commitments because the parties themselves supply the data. As the election gets closer, it seems to me, and I think to the public, that Labor is throwing around more and more money in its desperate bid to cling to power. I note that the spendometer, as at 10 March, says that the Labor Party plans to spend $443.8 million, a whopping amount of money—$218.8 million for recurrent funding and $225 million for capital funding. The Greens, on the other hand, have an even larger amount, $608.1 million, which is a very significant amount of money. Of that, $524 million is for recurrent funding and $84 million for capital funding. The Liberals obviously have a more conservative $306 million—$211.2 million for recurrent funding and $94.8 million for capital funding. That proves that you have one party demonstrating fiscal discipline in Tasmania at the moment. It also proves that if there were to be a Green-Labor accord in Tasmania, together they would be committing Tasmania to spend over $1 billion. That is scary—very scary indeed.