The Honourable Troy Buswell and Andrew Fraser

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Federal Government must ensure a fairer allocation of GST
Queensland Labor Treasurer Andrew Fraser and Western Australia Liberal Treasurer
Troy Buswell have joined forces to call on the Federal Government to recognise the independence
of the Commonwealth Grants Commission (CGC) and find a ‘fairer’ way of carving up the national
GST pool.
Mr Fraser and Mr Buswell said the independent CGC’s draft report recognised the growth states’
population booms and subsequent infrastructure burden for the first time, and its methodology
should be implemented in full.
“Keeping the national economy moving means recognising the role Queensland and Western
Australia play as economic growth states,” Mr Fraser said.
“The new methodology is a fairer way to carve up the GST pool, which is central to every state’s
budget.
“New South Wales currently get more GST per person than the other big states, and will do so even
if the CGC’s draft report is implemented.
“NSW has been a drag on the national economy for years. So much so that the biggest state
economy in the country needed a one-off handout of $118 million last year. The only other states to
receive a handout were South Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmania.
“If the cheap scare campaign run by NSW is successful and the growth states are robbed much
needed funding, then Queensland and Western Australian taxpayers will rightly have plenty of
questions to ask.”
Mr Buswell said NSW was already compensated heavily by the Queensland and Western
Australia’s resources sector.
“NSW was once the driver of the national economy – that is no longer the case,” Mr Buswell said.
“The Queensland and Western Australian Governments have shouldered the load when it comes to
building the infrastructure our growing populations need. That burden won’t change as population
pressures intensify.
“NSW don’t miss out. They receive more GST per person than either Victoria, Queensland or
Western Australia, they gained around $3.5 billion from the mining assessment over the last five
years (at the expense of Queensland and Western Australia), and overall their underlying share of
GST has increased by $1.3 billion since the last major review in 2004.
“Both Queensland and Western Australia’s underlying shares of GST have declined by more than
$1 billion over the same period.
”We are not asking for a larger allocation of GST funding than NSW. We just want a fairer
allocation that doesn’t rob the growth states of the funds we need to cater for our very rapidly
growing populations.”
It is expected that the Federal Government will hand down the final CGC 2010 report tomorrow.