State Government to reject any change to GST share for South Australia

PREMIER Steven Marshall has vowed to fight “tooth and nail” against any changes to the GST formula that would reduce South Australia’s slice of the pie.

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PREMIER Steven Marshall has vowed to fight “tooth and nail” against any changes to the GST formula that would reduce South Australia’s slice of the pie.

Speaking after his first Cabinet meeting as premier, Mr Marshall said he’d yet to discuss any changes with his federal counterparts, but stressed his position was clear.

Premier Steven Marshall.

“Our position on this has been extraordinarily clear. We’re not going to support any changes to the arrangements for the distribution of the GST that would disadvantage South Australia,” he said.

“The Treasurer (Rob Lucas) will be attending meetings with regards to the GST in the coming months, and he’ll be putting forward our position, which is that we need to protect the current system we base our estimates on.

A draft Productivity Commission report last year recommended changing the horizontal fiscal equalisation formula used to determine each state’s GST share.

Mr Marshall confirmed the new Parliament would sit for the first time on May 3, and said all actions he’d promised to complete inside his first week as premier had been completed.

They include reducing ministerial staff and appointing a special investigator to examine the former government’s purchasing of nine diesel-gas turbines.

The investigator will be unveiled by Attorney-General Vickie Chapman in coming days.