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

We all know that money is one of those things that is always in short supply be it for a household, business or, indeed, government, which is why I want to again reflect on something I asked about in this place a couple of months ago. I asked the Leader of the Government in the Senate about whether the funding allocated by the Albanese Labor government to the waterfront stadium in Hobart will be exempt from our GST allocation. At that time, there was no answer given. Tasmanians were given no clarity about whether they would forego money that would ordinarily go to health, to education, to roads, and whether they would be forced to put that money into a stadium, or whether they will be free of that encumbrance.

I again asked in the last round of Senate estimates whether the Australian Labor government had exempted that commitment that they had made on behalf of the Labor government to money, $240 million of that finite resource—taxpayer money—to a waterfront stadium in Hobart and whether they had exempted it from our GST calculation. Again, the minister at the table, Senator Brown, had no answer to give, sadly, about whether such a commitment had been given. At that estimates hearing, I did ask Senator Brown whether she would join with me in asking the Treasurer to exempt those funds from GST calculations. Sadly, though, in response to an FOI request, it appears that no request has been made. So I again lay down the challenge to Labor members and senators from Tasmania—four Labor senators in this chamber—to make sure that Tasmanians are not dudded through this deal, that we don't have money taken out of our health system, out of our education system to fund their waterfront stadium. It is a shame. Where is the member for Lyons, Mr Mitchell? Where is cabinet minister Julie Collins when it comes to this deal? Make sure the money is exempt. It's their job and they should do it right.