Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Cormann) to a question without notice asked by Senator Farrell today relating to the distribution of GST revenue.

Twice this week this Leader of the Government in the Senate has been unwilling to rule out any changes to the GST distribution to Tasmania and to South Australia. I'll come back to that fact, because he's been given two opportunities over this week and he has failed to do so, but I want to go back to the beginning. I want to go back to the summer holidays, a time for beaches, barbecues—and, do you know what else? Burying, until after the elections in South Australia and Tasmania, the government's plans to slash hundreds of millions of dollars from state budgets. When did the government decide that the Productivity Commission magically needed more time to finalise its report on GST funding? On 3 January! And how much longer does the PC need to finalise this report? Until after the South Australian and Tasmanian elections! Oh, my goodness me! Knock me over with a feather! What a surprise! What a coincidence!

What is the backdrop to this? People might have forgotten that the backdrop to this was Prime Minister Turnbull talking about re-casting the GST, I think, in the context of the WA election—that's right—and positive comments made by Treasurer Morrison about changes to the GST. This isn't some esoteric argument because, earlier this week, we put to the government what the cuts, a change to the GST would mean to Tasmanians and to South Australians. It isn't an esoteric budget formula discussion; it's a discussion about nurses and teachers and police officers and infrastructure. It is a discussion about what happens to services and to real people. Let's remember: these cuts would be equivalent to South Australia cutting 5,340 teachers, over 4,000 frontline police, nearly 5,000 nurses, nearly 38,000 radiotherapy treatments, or 86 train carriages, just to name a few. These are real services to South Australians. A number of Labor Tasmanian senators have also asked questions about the cuts to Tasmania.

In the context of that, what have we had from the government? Twice this week, as I've said, Senator Cormann has refused to rule out changes to the GST. He keeps using weasel words: there's no proposal, there's no plan. Twice he's been asked to rule out any changes to the GST distribution to South Australia and Tasmania, and he refuses to. Meanwhile, Senator Birmingham says in the paper he'll fight any plan to change the GST. So which is it? Is it that there's no plan, or is there a plan Senator Birmingham's fighting? Maybe this is some weird Liberal example of shadow-boxing—you know: you fight a plan that doesn't really exist.

I can say this: there is only one party that will stand up for South Australia and Tasmania on the GST, and that's the Labor Party. Can I tell you why in South Australia the South Australian electorate can never trust Steven Marshall when it comes to standing up to Canberra? It is because he's Pyne's patsy. He's Christopher Pyne's patsy, and everyone in South Australia knows it. He owes his job to the very impressive number crunching Mr Pyne has engaged in and the influence of Mr Pyne in the South Australian Liberal Party, and so you never hear Steve say boo. He's Pyne's patsy. He'll be Pyne's patsy when it comes to the GST and he'll be Pyne's patsy on everything else, and that's why South Australians haven't flocked to him. That's the reason he's seen as a weak Liberal leader: he is controlled up here by Christopher Pyne, and everyone in South Australia knows it.

The reality is it takes more than a couple of headlines to show that the South Australian Liberal Party are actually prepared to stand up to their Western Australian and federal colleagues. We know a history of them rolling over, of them going quiet, of them not doing the right thing. It wasn't the South Australian Liberal Party who got the submarines back; let's remember that. It was the campaign run by the Labor Party and the Labor government in South Australia. The Liberals like to be lions in Adelaide, but they're cowards in Canberra. That's the reality, and I think every South Australian knows it.

I don't know who's following me after this. I hope it's Senator Birmingham, and I invite him to rule out the GST changes. I invite him to do what his leader wouldn't and rule out any changes to the GST for South Australia. If you don't, everyone will you know you're a coward. (Time expired)