Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

Well, forgive me for not accepting—

Opposition senators interjecting—

No, for the way the question has been asked. And for saying that if there is any further information I can provide to the chamber, I will undertake to do so. It is not unusual for states to seek GST exemptions for infrastructure. I would think every single state has applied to do so over the last few years. It goes through the appropriate decision-making and accountability processes for those decisions. Of course, the way GST is distributed is a matter for the Commonwealth Grants Commission, and, again, there's a range of views about how that GST is shared or allocated, and how the relativities are arrived at. There isn't universal agreement across the states about that either.