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

I move:

That the Senate take note of all answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by opposition senators today.

GST, goods and services tax revenue, to our Commonwealth is, of course, a lifeblood when it comes to the provision of services in all of our states and territories. One of the key principles of Federation is that no matter where you live in this country you should have access to good services that meet your needs in health, in education, in infrastructure. The way many of our states and territories pay for this is through our allocation, in each state or territory, of the goods and services tax revenue, GST revenue.

In a state like Tasmania, a small jurisdiction, we depend on this vital stream of income to be able to support Tasmanians in getting the services they need. That's what good Tasmanian representatives stand up for—to ensure that our community receives what we need. This is why I was most bemused, rather upset, mildly alarmed by some comments that were made by Australia's Prime Minister, the Labor Prime Minister, Mr Albanese, when he was in Tasmania on 25 September, not so long ago. He was there announcing support for a good health project—so I give kudos to him, in partnership with the Tasmanian Liberal government, for that. What alarmed me most were the Prime Minister's answers to some questions he was asked about a very unique Tasmanian issue, or, at least, one that is accentuated in Tasmania because of our reliance on GST. He was asked by a journalist, at a doorstop, on 25 September:

Here in Tasmania, will you exempt the Macquarie Point Stadium from GST calculations?

The Prime Minister answers, 'No.' The journalist says, 'Why not?' The Prime Minister says:

Because if we did that, we'd have to do the same for the Olympic sites in Queensland, for every infrastructure project in the country.

That was the Prime Minister on 25 September.

By that, I read that the Prime Minister says, 'We can't give you, Tasmania, your GST exemption on this $240 million project.' Two hundred and forty million dollars is a significant amount of money, and it's a project that I'm sure will bring in great revenue streams for Tasmania eventually. But the Treasury documents that were provided through Senate estimates last defy what the Prime Minister said. The Prime Minister said that we will not get our GST because Queensland's Olympic infrastructure was not exempt from GST. Yet, in a document entitled Directions issued to exclude specific Commonwealth payments from the calculation of GST relativities, Treasury officials say, about the financial year 2024-25:

QLD: Payments to Queensland for sporting venue infrastructure for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Prime Minister says, 'No exemption for them,' but Treasury has already signed off on one. So the Prime Minister's first excuse as to why Tasmanians are being ripped off by $240 million fails. Treasury belled the cat on that absolute misleading.

Then, the Prime Minister went on to talk about when he was infrastructure minister in the last wonderful period of time of Labor rule in our country, and he said, in the same interview:

But infrastructure across the board is not exempt. I was an Infrastructure Minister for six years, I assure you there was no GST exemptions during that period.

Well, I will read from a document entitled Project agreement for Macquarie Point Railyards Precinct Remediation Project: an agreement between the Commonwealth of Australia and Tasmania. It was signed by the Hon. Anthony Albanese MP on 2 October 2012. There's a line in here that says:

15. The Commonwealth will provide a total financial contribution to Tasmania of $50 million in respect of this Agreement. All payments are GST exclusive.

That is, they are exempt from GST calculations. Again the Prime Minister points to Tasmania not being able to get its GST exemption on the stadium funding, something it deserves and should get as an equal state in our federation, because (a) the Brisbane Olympics infrastructure wasn't getting an exemption—wrong, it is!—and, (b) he says when he was infrastructure minister he never signed off on exemptions for any infrastructure project. Well, here is a signed document, by his hand, exempting $50 million of expenditure on an infrastructure project in Tasmania, eerily, on the same site.

I question: What is Mr Brian Mitchell, the member for Lyons, doing? What is Ms Collins, the member for Franklin, doing when it comes to asking for Tasmania's fair share? I ask: what are the Tasmanian Labor senator team doing in asking for Tasmania's fair share? Under Labor, we will be ripped off $240 million. Every other state and territory gets their fair share, except Tasmania. Queensland gets its fair share for sporting infrastructure GST exemptions; Tasmania, under this Labor government, does not. And that's a shame. And that is something that Tasmanian voters will know about when it comes to the next election. They have a chance now to sign a letter that they didn't sign just a few months ago.