Liberal senators unhappy with Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s GST reform could cross floor
PRESSURE is building as NSW, South Australian and Tasmanian Liberal governments lobby their state’s federal MPs and senators to side with Labor to amend the GST laws and guarantee no state will be worse off.
NSW
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LIBERAL senators are considering crossing the floor to force a major change to the Prime Minister’s plan to reform the GST — unless they are assured their states will not lose out.
Pressure is building as NSW, South Australian and Tasmanian Liberal governments lobby their state’s federal MPs and senators to side with Labor to amend the GST laws and guarantee no state will be worse off.
State Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said NSW senators had a responsibility to the people of their state to force the amendment.
“I really do believe that is the case. The Senate is the state’s house (so) they should be looking out after the states’ interests who they are there to represent,” he said.
“So the senators of NSW, Tasmania and Victoria should be clearly focused on what is in the interests of (their) people.
“I would say this to the Commonwealth — if they do believe that no state and territory will be worse off because of the change, if that is the commitment they have made, they should have no problem in legislating.”
SA Treasurer Rob Lucas said he would write to his federal colleagues later this week urging them to support the amendment while Tasmanian Treasurer Peter Gutwein has briefed his state’s senators on the need for the guarantee.
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Senator Eric Abetz said the Tasmanian Liberal Senate team was now waiting on a briefing from federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.
“We are eager to ensure that the right thing is done by everybody,” Mr Abetz said.
Mr Frydenberg will need to convince his colleagues to support the plan at a party room meeting when Parliament sits again from next Monday.
He has rejected calls to legislate the guarantee because it would create a two-stroke system but the decision could spark the first party room showdown on Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s watch.
The changes have widely been seen as a bid to appease WA, which has complained of being ripped off after its share of the GST fell below 30c for every dollar paid in the aftermath of the mining boom.
The Morrison government’s GST fix would pump an extra $7.2 billion into the funding pool and introduce a floor ensuring states are handed a minimum of 70c for every dollar paid, increasing to 75c in 2024.