Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Disability and Carers) Share this | Hansard source

In taking note today, I wish to talk about the response by Senator McKenzie to my question around the GST and the impact on South Australia and Tasmania. Unfortunately and quite disappointingly, the minister was not able to answer the question that I put to her. The question about GST and the distribution of GST is an extremely serious one. The people from my home state of Tasmania are keen to get an answer out of this government on this question, and they are keen to get an answer prior to the Tasmanian state election on 3 March.

My question went directly to the impact of any changes of the distribution of the GST on Tasmania. The Productivity Commission in its interim report talks about some massive cuts to Tasmania, and $168 million in proposed cuts to Tasmania have been recorded and reported. They are cuts that Tasmania can ill afford. We already have, under the watch of the state Liberal government, a health system in crisis. Our system needs more beds, more nurses, more doctors, more ambulances. We cannot afford any cuts, any changes to the GST that will see less GST revenue coming to Tasmania.

This government is delaying the final report of the Productivity Commission. It will now be handed down in May, after the Tasmanian election and the election in South Australia. Why is that? Tasmanians deserve to know. They are worried that their GST revenue will be ripped out of Tasmania. They have a right to be worried.

I think it was yesterday that we had a member of the federal government, Queensland MP Warren Entsch, say, 'Why should WA GST payers be subsidising other states, particularly states like Tasmania?' Mr Entsch obviously has no understanding of how the GST distribution formula works. He has no understanding of the reason that system was put in place. So these discussions need to be happening. The Tasmanian Liberal senators need to be asking these questions of their government—about what is going to be happening to the GST revenue for Tasmania. This is revenue that is critical to delivering the services that Tasmanians need.

Mr Entsch, with his quote, really let the cat out of the bag, because it is an imminent threat to Tasmania's GST share. We want to know what discussions the government has had. We want to know up-front so that Tasmanian voters can make a decision, an informed decision, with their vote on 3 March, because this government cannot be trusted. It certainly can't be trusted when it comes to health. We've already had $1.1 billion in health cuts from Canberra. We've already had the state Liberal government cut $210 million from Tasmania's health system in their first budget. We need, in Tasmania, more beds, more nurses, more doctors, more ambulances. The system that the state Liberal government have created and presided over is in crisis. We need the federal government to be up-front with Tasmanians. This is a very serious issue. (Time expired)