Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has hinted Liberal premiers may be in talks over GST distribution. Source: AAP
A "SECRET" coalition GST deal that could see the country's eastern states part with some of their tax share to appease West Australia raises crucial questions, the government says.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott on Sunday said the premiers of NSW, Victoria and Queensland were in talks with WA Premier Colin Barnett about some possible changes to GST distribution.
Mr Barnett has long campaigned for a greater share of the GST pie for his state, arguing the amount of WA government revenue from the commonwealth has dropped in recent years from 50 to 35 per cent.
Mr Abbott said it was his understanding the Liberal premiers of NSW, Queensland and Victoria were "prepared to look at some changes".
"Colin Barnett, as I understand it, thinks that it might be possible, talking to the premiers of Queensland, NSW, Victoria and himself to come up with something that doesn't disadvantage the smaller states, but which is fairer to the bigger states," he told Sky News on Sunday.
Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury said however, the state Liberal premiers - particularly Mr Barnett - had a lot of questions to answer about the "secret" deal.
"Premier Barnett must release this secret formula so NSW, Queensland and Victoria know how much they stand to lose if Tony Abbott takes up his plans," he said in a statement.
The premiers needed to explain how much state revenue they planned on handing over to Mr Barnett, and what services they'd be cutting to make this cash available.
Mr Bradbury asked why people in the eastern states should be worse off because Mr Abbott wanted to appease WA, and called on the premiers to stand up for their respective states.
Mr Abbott had said South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory would not be worse off, adding it was the role of the federal government to ensure the economically weaker states weren't let down.
However it was ultimately up to the states to come to an agreement they could all live with, he added.
"If they can come to me with something which is a fairer system I'm all ears," Mr Abbott said.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Labor questions 'secret' GST deal
Dengan url
http://laptoptua.blogspot.com/2013/04/labor-questions-secret-gst-deal.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Labor questions 'secret' GST deal
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Labor questions 'secret' GST deal
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar