NSW Labor leader warns state ’entitled to more’ GST

Anthony Albanese faces a Labor-on-Labor fight on GST, as NSW election front runner Chris Minns says he’ll fight for a greater slice on consumption tax revenue if he wins on Saturday.

NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns enters the last week on the hustings at Paramatta on Sunday. Picture: Gaye Gerard

Anthony Albanese faces a Labor-on-Labor fight on the GST as NSW election frontrunner Chris Minns says he’ll fight the Prime Minister and other premiers for a greater slice of tax revenue if he wins on Saturday.

Six days out from the election, the NSW Opposition Leader used the tax debate to try and set out his independence from the Mr Albanese and his fellow ALP leaders, as he works to convince voters to remove the last Coalition government on the mainland.

Setting out his national priorities for the first time in his local- centric and small-target election, Mr Minns said on Sunday that GST and increasing investment in clean energy would be his priorities if he was elected premier.

NSW Labor Leader Chris Minns is prepared to take on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to get NSW a greater share of GST revenue. Picture: Gaye Gerard

Despite Mr Minns being the favourite with bookies and in the polls, sources from both parties said the race was tightening and a Labor minority government was the most likely outcome.

With gross debt forecast to reach $187bn by the end of the forward estimates, Mr Minns said the “stress and strain” on the state’s budget meant it was imperative the Albanese government came to the table when the consumption tax come up for renegotiation.

“We’re entitled to more – and that is an implicit criticism of the current arrangement,” he said on Sunday.

“It’s all up for negotiation in the next few years, and I’m not going to take a backward step from the perspective of taxpayers in the state.”

Renegotiated in 2018 under then treasurer Scott Morrison, the revamped distribution of the GST ensured Western Australia’s share was boosted from 30c in every dollar raised to a floor of 70c, rising again to 75c in 2024-25.

Mr Minns said while he would look to use his long-standing relationship with Mr Albanese to his state’s advantage, he would not shirk from confrontation, if necessary.

“My responsibility as the elected premier is to the people who live here regardless of how they voted. And if that means that there’s going to be disagreements or an arm wrestle, that’s exactly what I’ll do,” he said.

He would likely face a significant battle with West Australian Premier Mark McGowan, and the federal government, after Western Australia drove Labor to victory at the May federal election. Treasurer Jim Chalmers last week said he had no intention of changing the deal, despite concerns among other states that the guarantee unfairly benefited WA.

In December, Mr McGowan attacked NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet after he called for the federal government to re-examine the GST distribution, saying he could not fathom how “anyone with a brain” could think the current deal was unfair on NSW.

“NSW gets back more than they put in, whereas we only get back 75c for every dollar we put in,” Mr McGowan said.

Mr Minns said his national priority would be energy security, flagging he would look to work with the federal government to drive public-private partnerships to build more storage capacity to support the construction of renewable power, largely through pumped hydro.

NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns walks to the bus after a speech during NSW Labor’s ‘Final Countdown' campaign rally in Parramatta. Picture: Gaye Gerard

“There is a lot of private capital that’s ready to be invested in renewable energy.,” he said.

“The problem is storage, where there’s just not the quick returns that the private sector needs.”

In conjunction with his promised state-owned Energy Security Corporation, Mr Minns said the state government would co-fund energy projects, ensuring private providers security on their long-term investment.

As he criticised Energy Minister Matt Kean for failing to work up a storage plan to match his ­renewable energy road map, Mr Minns said his strategy would look to smooth out the “rollercoaster of price rises”.

Firstly, however, he said his ­attention would be fixated on reining in the state’s finances, which he warned would likely come at the expense of short-term “handouts” favoured by the current government, instead looking for “systematic fixes”.

“We’re also looking at potentially being the government saying, ‘Well, how do we fix this?’,” he said.

“A lot of people would rather the government of the day look at reform, as opposed to what the NSW government is doing, which is just short, 12-month handouts, and then cross your fingers and hope for the best.”