Goods and Services Tax

Mr MULLIGHAN (Lee) (14:34): My question is to the Premier. Did the Premier or his Treasurer urge the federal government to continue with the current GST distribution regime?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:34): We explored various options with regard to this. Our unequivocal position, the part of our position that we would never change, is that we would not do anything that would disadvantage the taxpayers of South Australia. We made that position very clear. We made it very clear last year. We made it again when the Australian Productivity Commission report was published, and then of course we have used it right throughout as the bedrock of our negotiation with the federal Treasurer, the Hon. Scott Morrison, and also with the Prime Minister.

As I said to the house earlier, I have been very impressed that the Prime Minister of Australia has been personally involved in this negotiation. I have had several discussions and meetings with him on this issue; that is just how important this issue is. One of the areas that we didn't consider, one of the options we didn't put to the federal government as part of this negotiation—whilst we are talking about exploring different options that might have been considered—

Mr Mullighan: Yes, try and segue this.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: That was the question: which option did you put?

The SPEAKER: Is the member for Lee interjecting?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: One of the things we didn't do was we didn't advocate to grow the size of the pool by extending GST to financial services in South Australia. Those opposite—

Mr MULLIGHAN: Point of order: standing order 98. The question was very specific about whether he urged the federal government to maintain the current GST distribution regime. It was not about other options canvassed.

The SPEAKER: The Premier is being interjected on by members on your side of the chamber. I will listen carefully to ensure that he does not move from the substance of the question. Premier.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Thank you very much, sir. The question is whether we urged the federal government to stay with the status quo. As I said, our bedrock position was that we didn't want South Australia to end up any worse. We were happy to consider systems that improved the amount of money coming to South Australia, and to date what has been put on the table specifically shows that.

Those opposite would say, 'We don't want any change,' but, let me tell you, if the federal government is going to put additional money in isn't it negligent of the people doing the negotiation to move away from that? We want to maximise the amount of money coming to South Australia, and what the federal government has put on the table to date, before the deal is signed, is $257 million. That is $257 million over and above the Treasury modelling that had been provided to South Australia, including the forward estimates.

We think this is actually good. That money has come from the federal government agreeing to increase the size of the pool—not change the scope, not hit the taxpayers of South Australia or the rest of the country, not saying, 'What we would like to do is extend it so that you've got to pay GST on your bank fees and charges, on your mortgage repayments.' We don't believe in increasing taxes on families and businesses in this state. That has always been our position and, as I said, it is one of the fundamental issues we took into the negotiation.

The GST carve-up has been the subject of negotiation at the federal level for quite some time. Those opposite have wanted to advocate for a GST that increases to 15 per cent or a GST that extends over to financial services, both options those opposite not only put forward but also advocated. They went around and met with other premiers around the nation saying, 'This is what we think is in the best interests of the people of our nation.' They actually advocated for it. That would have punished the people of South Australia.

We have heard no new position from the Leader of the Opposition, so we can only assume he is wedded to this idea of increasing the rate of GST, extending it onto financial services. We have heard nothing from him. He said he was out there listening to the people of South Australia. We call upon him to clarify his position. We don't want higher taxes in South Australia, but we do want to guarantee flow of GST and we don't want any changes that would disadvantage the people of South Australia. That is our position and we are sticking to it.