Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Federation is a beautiful thing! I asked the Leader of the Government in the Senate, who could give me no comfort. I asked the minister at the table during infrastructure estimates about whether she, as a Tasmanian senator, Senator Brown, has sought a commitment from the Treasurer to exempt our GST allocation. For those thousands, or tens of thousands, of Australians out there listening, GST is how a state like Tasmania pays for its health system, for its education system, in part for its roads and other amenities, essential services that a small state can't afford to pay. Thank God for horizontal fiscal equalisation. But the Australian Labor government, the Albanese Labor government, represented in Tasmania by Ms Julie Collins, the member for Franklin—a cabinet minister, who has a fair bit of say over what happens here—Senator Brown, Senator Bilyk, Senator Polley, Senator Urquhart, can do the right thing by the 560,000 people we represent in this place. They can ask the Treasurer to exempt that funding decision by this government from the GST. Do the right thing by the state, and, please, for heaven's sake, stop breaking promises you made to the Australian people, including your promise on power prices, which I look forward to hearing about now. (Time expired)