Newman says Palaszczuk GST gaffe even worse because of ALP claims that LNP want tax increase

PREMIER Campbell Newman has launched a stinging attack on Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk over her GST gaffe after passing the same quiz relatively unscathed this morning.

PREMIER Campbell Newman has launched a stinging attack on Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk over her GST gaffe after passing the same quiz relatively unscathed this morning.

“When you make a gaffe about the GST after trying to say that you’re opponent is trying to put it up, I’m sorry, it’s not because you didn’t have your coffee that morning. I’m sorry, it’s because you don’t have a plan,” he told radio station 4KQ.

“Everyone can make a mistake I acknowledge that. The trouble with this particular gaffe is that the other side have spent the last three weeks saying things about that tax. They have actually insinuated that we wanted to raise it.

“We have said no for four years to an increase in the GST. We have said no for four years to it going on food.”

Mr Newman has this morning taken the same radio quiz that stumped his opponent Labor Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk.

With Ms Palaszczuk stumbling over the second question about the GST rate, Mr Newman’s staff were nervous to ensure he did not make the same mistake during his interview with station 97.3.

“I think you’ve run out of time” he joked before taking the test.

All up Mr newman won $300 for caller Sharon after answering six questions correctly, the same number Ms Palaszczuk managed to answer correctly yesterday. Picture: Adam Head

Mr Newman was playing for Sharon of Anstead who declared she was voting “LNP all the way”.

“I’m sorry you have drawn the short straw,” the Premier replied.

Mr Newman stumbled when asked the name of a member of musical group the Veronicas and passed when asked how to spell Ms Palaszczuk’s last name.

“Pass. I always put AP. I’m sorry Annastacia,” he said.

He nearly failed to name local Woolloongabba restaurant the Norman but pulled through in the end.

All up he won $300 for caller Sharon after answering six questions correctly, the same number Ms Palaszczuk managed to answer correctly yesterday.

He was also quizzed about whether or not he could retain his seat of Ashgrove following tomorrow’s poll with a recent Reachtel poll showing Labor’s Kate Jones in front.

“I’m going to do my best, but it’s not about me,” he said.

“It’s tight everywhere. I believe its going to be very tight on the night.”

Mr Newman again dismissed questions over whether his party had a plan B should he not win.

He chalked up recent polling showing the LNP had whittled away the lead it held following the 2012 poll to “tough decisions” made by his government over the last three years.

“When you elect a government to fix something up and sort out a mess ... you’ve got to make hard decisions. Some people didn’t like it for sure.”

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WHAT’S THE GST RATE? JUST ASK ANYONE

IT’S the number after nine and before 11 – and everyone on the street that we asked knew it.

The GST (goods and services tax) is at the bottom of almost every bill, whether it is for a birthday cake or pair of boots, but that didn’t stop Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk fumbling over the number 10 in a radio interview yesterday.

Quizzed on the current rate of GST, Ms Palaszczuk was quick to respond “pass”. She later blamed a punishing interview schedule and lack of coffee for the gaffe.

But four average Queenslanders in Brisbane City yesterday were sure of their answers, including grandmother Margaret Woodbury, who was babysitting her two-year-old grandson Mason.

“It’s pretty obvious that it’s an important part of our daily life,” Mrs Woodbury said.

“I think they calculated 10 per cent in the first place because it’s easy to work out - we all pay bills that have GST, do they (politicians) not pay their bills?”

Project officer Vanessa Radakovic, 28, said the GST rate was an important aspect of the economy for politicians to know.

“I think anything that affects Queenslanders financially should be something political leaders know,” she said.

Steve Baskerville, 28, lives in the Nudgee electorate and said the number was very different to other changing economic figures.

“It’s a number that has been around for almost 15 years now. It has stayed the same the whole time,” he said.

But while saying knowing the GST was important, 24-year-old Josh Holley said he was concerned it might turn into “political football”.

“I have just noticed things like this can be used as a political football. It’s like the time John Hewson forgot it,” he said.

Despite debate rising over whether the number should increase, it has never moved from its 10 per cent base when it was introduced by prime minister John Howard in 1999 and came into effect in 2000.

Previous Liberal leader John Hewson lost the “unloseable” 1993 election to prime minister Paul Keating when campaigning on a GST platform, after being unable to explain in an on-air interview how the tax would apply to a birthday cake.