Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader (Tasmania)) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Making Sure Every State and Territory Gets Their Fair Share of GST) Bill 2018. Labor supports every state and territory getting their fair share of GST, and Labor supports this legislation. In fact, we called for this legislation. When we announced our position of making the floor which will apply to every state and territory, the former Treasurer, now Prime Minister, said that it was unnecessary and it wasn't needed. But, true to form, the Liberals have backflipped yet again on another Labor position—and we welcome it.

I won't go into great detail about the long history of the GST distribution, but there are a few points that I would like to make. Labor welcomes the fact that the Morrison government have caved to pressure from states to provide legislative guarantee on the GST that no state will be worse off. Unfortunately, there is still no guarantee that Tasmania will not be worse off past 2026-27. This is perhaps one of the most important debates, where any changes could almost certainly damage and harm Tasmania. This ineffective Prime Minister pitted states against one another. He has made GST reform a battle between the states instead of bringing states together. Instead of bringing the country together, this Prime Minister's chaos and division not only wreaks havoc within the government; he would prefer that it did that in the community, too. The Commonwealth government should always be concerned about the long-term financial security of every state, not merely one state or the other that they call home. Tasmania's inept Liberal senators have remained largely weak and ineffective on this issue, and Tasmanians will not forget it. We saw for months how ineffective the Tasmanian Liberals were at the state and federal level in being able to lobby for a better deal for Tasmania over the long term. Again, I remind the Tasmanian Liberal Senate team: Tasmanians won't forget this. They expect you to stand up to your Prime Minister when he's dishing out a raw deal for Tasmania.

The Turnbull-Morrison governments have taken Tasmania for granted in more ways than one, and not merely on the issue of the GST. As Treasurer, Scott Morrison did not deliver one new dollar on infrastructure for Tasmania or one new Public Service job. Mr Morrison and Mr Frydenberg's first plan for the GST distribution would have seen Tasmania lose a reported $248 million, without any protection. After pleas from Labor, the Treasurer rejected a plan to include the legislative guarantee that Labor had been calling for.

Mr Morrison hasn't hidden his real feelings about Tasmania. In fact, he has openly insulted Tasmania and Tasmanians when it comes to their fair share of the GST. Mr Morrison was rightly condemned recently when he described Tasmania as being 'mendicant', essentially calling Tasmanians beggars. That is what this current Prime Minister thinks of Tasmanians. No leader or Prime Minister should openly insult a state or territory. It shows an ineptness in his leadership and, frankly, an arrogance that Australia cannot afford. This comment showed Tasmanians the contempt that Mr Morrison, as Prime Minister of this country, has for Tasmania and, more importantly, for Tasmanians in general. It explains perfectly why I can recall only three times, maybe, over the last five years—as Treasurer and now as Prime Minister—that he has visited my home state.

Any GST formula must be fixed as equitable in its end result. States need certainty over the long term to plan for the future. Politics needs to be taken out of the GST debate to ensure business confidence and confidence within regional communities so that people will stay in Tasmania and are not forced to move to the mainland. Labor makes no apologies for standing up for our state and fighting for the best possible share of the GST revenue. Regional Tasmania is already suffering as a result of this government overseeing growing inequity between cities and regions. Tasmanians need a strong leader to stand up for their interests, not a leader who has, clearly, argued for cutting Tasmania's GST receipts behind closed doors.

In July Mr Scott Morrison promised, as Treasurer, 'No state will be worse off,' under new GST distribution changes, but he has changed his mind on this issue more times than I can count. The government's policy on the GST is only a short-term reform. We know that they have their real plan in the bottom drawer and that it will harm states like my home state of Tasmania in the long term. Let's face it: a leopard never changes his spots. We know that the Prime Minister, even before he came to this place, did nothing about being open and transparent in his business dealings, particularly before he was sacked as the general manager of Tourism Australia. So his track record is not a good record. Tasmanians don't trust him and I don't believe they will change their view of him heading into the next federal election.

The government is only passing the buck to future governments by not guaranteeing funding for Tasmanian hospitals and schools over the 2026-27 commitments. Mr Morrison is the Don Draper of Australian politics, without the talent or the good looks. This Prime Minister is a man who was sacked, as I said, from Tourism Australia, and it has now been revealed why he was moved on. He was appointed by his mates in the Liberal Party, and he was sacked unanimously by the board of Tourism Australia and by the Liberal tourism minister of the day. Not even John Howard was prepared to stand up for him. That's the calibre of the man who has taken the chair in the big office as Prime Minister of this country.

These are serious findings by the Australian National Audit Office. It is not Labor saying these things; it was the Australian National Audit Office. The former Treasurer, and now Prime Minister, oversaw Tourism Australia from 2004 to 2006. Eighteen months into his contract he was sacked, terminated—with very healthy severance pay of $300,000, I might add. This has been revealed in recent days because I think it's important. It goes to the calibre of the man who is the Prime Minister. Tourism Australia and the deals that he did—that information was kept from the board. So, as he has proven to be as Prime Minister, he is not open and transparent. The procurement guidelines were breached, and private companies were engaged on contracts worth $184 million before paperwork was signed and without appropriate value-for-money assessment. That's the calibre—