Ministerial Statement

Leaders' Retreat

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:06): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: On 22 and 23 July I attended the historic first Leaders' Retreat in Sydney. The event involved all state and territory leaders, the President of the Australian Local Government Association and the Prime Minister. Our discussions involved an honest assessment of the challenges and opportunities facing Australia. Foremost among these is the imperative facing all governments in 2015—that services Australians want and need cannot be provided with the level of funds we currently raise.

Leaders put on the table reform proposals that were every bit as bold and ambitious as they needed to be if Australia is to deal with the challenges it is facing today. The leaders discussed with open minds ways in which we might bridge that gap. We looked at revenue raising. We agreed to keep commonwealth and state tax changes on the table, including the goods and services tax and the Medicare levy.

I made it clear that the principle which will guide me in the discussion will be ensuring the burden of raising additional revenue should not fall on those who can least afford it. As an encouraging first step there was an in-principle agreement to broaden the GST to cover overseas online transactions under $1,000. We also examined ways in which our federation might work better and so improve Australia's overall fiscal position and our national productivity.

In particular, as outlined in the communiqué, the leaders unanimously agreed to focus reform efforts on health, education, infrastructure and housing. This was a good result for South Australia because these are the four areas I nominated in my 8 July National Press Club speech as requiring attention and substantial reform.

We will reconvene before the end of the year to consider more developed options for reform and to this end individual leaders have been allocated responsibility for each of these reforms with the support of the expert panel. I will be developing options relating to early childhood learning in consultation with the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory and the President of the Australian Local Government Association.

There were many other important topics discussed at the retreat, not all of which I have time to fully examine today. They are set out in the communiqué, which can be found at www.coag.gov.au. However, I do wish to put on the record that the issue of violence against women was discussed, and the Prime Minister made a powerful statement that what fundamentally is at stake is a change of heart, a change of attitudes and action by men.

Although there is plenty more work to be done, I was pleased with what we achieved at the retreat and impressed with the desire of everyone to set aside political and parochial interests in the national interest.