ONLY FEDERAL LABOR HAS A PLAN TO GIVE WESTERN AUSTRALIA A FAIR SHARE

SloMo’s announcement of a delay in the Productivity Commission’s final report on GST distribution is a reminder that only a Shorten Labor Government has a plan to help fix Western Australia’s unfair GST revenue share.

 

Federal Labor’s $1.6 billion Fair Share for WA Fund would bring Commonwealth funding for Western Australia up to the equivalent of a 70 cent floor, without ripping billions of dollars of GST revenue from other states and the territories.

 

All Scott Morrison has is talk and now it’s been delayed by a further five months adding to the chaos and uncertainty of the Turnbull Government’s position on GST distribution.

 

It wasn’t long ago that Scott Morrison was attacking further ‘top-up’ payments to Western Australia and yet he’s back announcing that another one is on the way.

 

Let’s be clear, today’s announcement by Scott Morrison of a delay in the final Productivity Commission report, snuck out during the holiday period, is designed to do one thing – to try and hoodwink the people of South Australia and Tasmania that there won’t be cuts to the GST revenue that help fund their hospitals and schools.

 

The uncertainty that will result from this delay will jeopardise the funding of services across the country.

 

In October, Scott Morrison firmly embraced the Productivity Commission’s draft recommendations which would see South Australia lose $256 million and Tasmania lose $77 million in funding.

 

Federal Labor called out this delaying tactic at the time, but true to form, Mr Morrison has scraped the bottom of the barrel by confirming the delay and releasing the news when many Australians are enjoying the holidays.

 

The challenge for the Turnbull Government is to confirm that it won’t rip those billions of dollars from South Australia and Tasmania and elsewhere as recommended by the Productivity Commission in its draft report - and don’t hide behind the South Australian and Tasmanian state elections, tell us now!