Grievance Debate

GOODS AND SERVICES TAX

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (15:11): Today the Labor leader in Western Australia has tolled the bell on the Premier of South Australia's false campaign about the Leader of the Opposition's stance on changing the GST allocations to the state. The Hon. Mark McGowan, the Labor leader in Western Australia, has conveniently tweeted for all to see, and I quote:

Abbott says absolutely no change to GST formula if elected PM. So much for the Premier's campaign and claims that Abbott is 'listening'.

Mark McGowan, the Labor leader in Western Australia, is referring to Colin Barnett as the premier in that tweet but it makes the point to everyone in South Australia as to what this Premier has been doing in running a campaign about the GST. The Hon. Mark McGowan, the Hon. Colin Barnett, the Hon. Jay Weatherill and the Hon. Tony Abbott know that the only way the GST formula can be changed is with the agreement of all states. The reason Mark McGowan is out tolling the bell on this issue is that the South Australian Premier has been running around saying that Tony Abbott will somehow change the GST formula to disadvantage South Australia.

What the Hon. Mark McGowan is saying in that tweet is that Colin Barnett, who is running the opposite campaign, is also at fault because he knows that, unless all the states agree, the GST formula is not changing. So, now that the Labor leader in Western Australia has highlighted that this issue is a false campaign, a fake campaign, and a campaign that is deliberately misleading the people for political purposes, let's have the Premier stop running this fake campaign. The Premier should pick up the GST agreement and read it. It is crystal clear that when the Howard government brought in the GST arrangements they could not change the GST distribution without the agreement of the states.

Does anyone seriously think that a South Australian premier of any colour would seriously sign up to what this Premier has been running a line about in the media; that is, somehow a state would sign up to a change in the GST formula that would penalise this state to the tune of $1 billion a year? Does anyone seriously think that a South Australian premier of any colour would agree to that arrangement? The answer is no. I can tell you, Mr Speaker, the Labor government currently will not sign up to that agreement, and a Liberal opposition on becoming government in South Australia (if we do) will not be signing up to that agreement either. It is a nonsense campaign by the Premier. It is a nonsense campaign by the other states because they know the answer is that Tasmania and South Australia will not be signing up to anything to do with that deal.

So now that you have got Labor leaders out there in other states saying 'This is a fake campaign; this is a false campaign; this is a rubbish campaign', let's have the Premier do the right thing. This is the Premier who came in and said he wanted to lift the standard of the parliament, lift the quality of the debate and he is out there running a false, fake and phoney campaign. He is the Treasurer: pick up the GST agreement and have a read of it, and I think the Premier and Treasurer will then understand that what he has been saying is simply misleading the public.

Now that the Labor Party in Western Australia has highlighted this issue, I look forward to the Premier stopping the ridiculous campaign because, frankly, in all economic commentators' eyes, it is embarrassing to have a treasurer running that line when the Treasurer knows that that decision is in the hands of the South Australian government and no South Australian government, in its right mind, would sign up to a deal that would cost the state a billion dollars a year.