Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull rejects South Australia Premier Jay Weatherill’s push to increase GST

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has hit back at Premier Jay Weatherill over his push to raise the GST — saying State Governments need to run their hospitals and schools more efficiently.

Picture shows Minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull. Minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Communications Paul Fletcher will be in the electorate of Reid with local MP Craig Laundy for an announcement about the CoalitionÕs policy to Enhance Online Safety for Children.

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has ruled out supporting Premier Jay Weatherill’s GST reform plan and says the states should be willing to raise their own taxes to fund health and education.

Mr Turnbull has previously praised Mr Weatherill for being willing to consider lifting the GST from 10 per cent to 15 per cent.

But today he finally dismissed Mr Weatherill’s suggestion that the GST be increased and the states given a fixed share of income tax revenue to help fund services.

“I don’t agree with Jay’s agenda of raising more tax to spend more,’’ Mr Turnbull told 5AA.

“But nonetheless I thank him for making a thoughtful contribution.’’

Mr Weatherill later responded by saying he would be unwilling to support a GST unless the Federal Government reversed an $80 billion cut to state health and education budgets.

“The Prime Minister must level with the Australian people. Even after a cut of $80 billion in spending on education and heath his federal budget is $37.4 billion in deficit,’’ he said.

“Both myself and [NSW] Premier Mike Baird have put forward proposals directed at solving the imminent health funding crisis which will eventually hit more than $30b per annum.

“I have been very clear, I will not accept a rise in the GST unless there is a revenue fix that covers the $80b in health and education cuts.

“Health funding is now shaping as the key Federal Election issue.”

Mr Weatherill had taken considerable political risks by joining Mr Baird in voicing qualified support for a GST increase.

He was widely criticised by federal Labor for breaking away from the party’s anti-GST position.

The Prime Minister said state government’s should be willing to lift their own taxes to fund services.

“They have got to be prepared I believe to go to their citizens and say, for example, ‘We want to — we need to raise money, more money to spend on our schools and our hospitals. And, we are going to increase this state tax, or that state tax’,” he said.

Mr Turnbull later told reporters that the Federal Government would unveil its tax reform plans in the coming months and fully detail them in the May budget.

He said the tax reform package would not include an overall increase in taxation.

“We believe that we should not increase the total tax take in net terms,” Mr Turnbull said.

“We think it’s already very high. I think most Australians agree with that. That’s why we’re trying to restrain spending.”