SA Liberals fail to stand up for fair share of GST

SHADOW MINISTER FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT, AMANDA RISHWORTH: Despite talking tough yesterday morning, the South Australian Liberals had a chance to stand up for South Australia’s share of the GST. Instead of standing up for South Australia, within 24 hours the South Australian Liberal Party showed that they were cowards in this place. They talk tough at home but they refused to stand up for South Australia in the Senate yesterday to make sure that we get a fair share of the GST distribution. Of course, what we also know is yesterday, Senator Mathias Cormann actually indicated that he would not rule out implementing the interim Productivity Commission’s report of the GST distribution. That means that South Australia could potentially stand to lose $500 million of revenue. What does that mean? That means cuts to schools, that means cuts to hospitals. Yesterday in the Senate, Senator Simon Birmingham, Senator Lucy Gichuhi and Senator Anne Ruston failed to stand up for South Australia. Now, we know Scott Morrison and Mathias Cormann have kicked the can down the road in terms of releasing the final Productivity Commission report. Why? Because they want to avoid the State Election, well the South Australian people deserve to know whether or not they are going to have cuts, whether they are going to lose money for their schools, for their hospitals, for their roads. It is time that this government came clean with the South Australian people- and the South Australian Liberals didn’t just talk tough at home but actually backed up their actions in Canberra.