Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today we've been having a discussion about the carve-up of the GST and how this government plans to approach that. There are some things that are agreed. The first thing agreed is that this is an issue referred by the Treasurer, Mr Morrison, to the Productivity Commission. The second thing that isn't disputed by anyone in this chamber is that when the Productivity Commission tabled its interim report, one of its recommendations was a change to the way we deal with this question, which would see in just one year South Australia lose $557 million and Tasmania lose $168 million relative to their current positions. That can't be disputed, because that's in black and white and it's in the report.

But what is under dispute now, of course, is what that means and what the government intends to do about it. And, waking up in the new year and realising that the Liberal Party had to fight elections in South Australia and Tasmania, its leadership has decided to try and make this go away, to kick this off into the long grass and to assert that there's nothing going on here. In today's paper we saw Mr Pyne dismissing it as just a government report:

"The Productivity Commission writes reports, the Government makes policy. There is no policy to change the GST mix," Mr Pyne said.

Senator Birmingham:

… right now there's no proposal for change and nothing for people to fight over.

That's actually not what the Treasurer said. It's very different to what Mr Morrison said. What Mr Morrison said was:

… the Commission's draft report—

this is the one that recommends a $557 million cut from the South Australian budget—

… demonstrated the system is broken and needs a real fix.

Those are the words of the Treasurer. Those are the words of the person responsible for the economic policies of this government.

So who's telling the truth? Is it Mr Pyne or Senator Birmingham, cowering as they face the voters of South Australia? Or is it the person responsible for delivering the coalition's economic policy? As someone who's enthusiastic about the wellbeing of the citizens of South Australia and Tasmania, I'd like to think that it's Mr Pyne. After all, he has only recently crowed that he is part of the winners circle. Mr Pyne is very confident that he's in the driving seat. But I actually fear that the person who's right on this question is Mr Morrison, and I have to say, judging from the reaction of other Liberal MPs, from other people in the coalition party room, they seem inclined to believe that in these circumstances it's Mr Morrison who's telling the truth. What did Mr Marshall, the South Australian opposition leader, say? He said they would:

… oppose any change to the GST carve-up which would leave SA worse off.

What does Ms Flint, the member for Boothby, say? She's out there saying:

… she would make sure there was a "fair deal for SA".

"As a proud South Australian I will be fighting to protect the state’s interests."

She seems to think there's some sort of problem, something to fight about. What does Tony Pasin say? He says that he would expect:

Any attempt to undermine this principle will be met with a fierce fight from me and … every other South Australian in Federal Parliament.

It sounds like he thinks there's a fight on. It sounds like he thinks there's a problem. These are all members of the coalition party room who seem to think there is a big issue. In this chamber, newly arrived in the Liberal Party room, Senator Gichuhi says:

She said if such a change was pursued there would need to be measures to "cushion" SA against a possible impact.

She's worried about it. Mr Ramsey, the member for Grey, is worried about it. Senator Fawcett's worried about it. They're all quoted in The Advertiser, deeply worried about the proposal by the Treasurer to change the arrangements and leave South Australians worse off.

The shameful thing is that they are not strong enough to bring on this fight, to resolve this fight prior to South Australians' going to the polls. This is a weak party in South Australia. Indeed, I will add in passing that it's the very weakness of the South Australian Liberal Party—