Population, health and schools top the premiers’ wishlists

State premiers have a varied list of key issues for today’s Council of Australian Governments meeting in Adelaide.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Picture: Peter Lorimer

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian will call for states and territories to put in annual submissions on population as part of a “Canadian-style” immigration program, while Scott Morrison is set to unveil $1.25 billion in extra health funding at today’s Council of Australian Governments meeting in Adelaide.

Ms Berejiklian will also express concern that the population issue is one of 14 items on the agenda after asking the Prime Minister earlier this year for a special meeting on immigration when calling for NSW’s rate to be slashed in half. “I will again be calling for a dedicated COAG meeting to be held on population and for the issue to remain the responsibility of first ministers, and not referred to others, until a plan is put in place,” she said.

Ms Berejiklian will argue that — based on initial input from her “expert panel”, which includes the former secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet Peter Shergold and the CEO of Infrastructure NSW Jim Betts — a “bottom-up model to set total ­national migration numbers occur”.

This would involve “consideration of the Canadian migration system as an example of a model where states have genuine input into migration levels”.

South Australian Premier Steven Marshall said he would use the meeting to push for measures allowing the state to boost its population: “We’ve made it very clear we want to see a larger share of the nation’s population growth.”

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said “growth is good when it’s properly managed”.

“We’re attempting to do that by spending a record $45.8bn on build­ing infrastructure like schools, roads and hospitals. We’d do more but we don’t get the support states like NSW get from the federal government,” she said.

“Queensland is not a one-city state. We like that. The biggest source of (our) population growth is expanding families.

“We’re also the most popular destination for interstate ­migration. We don’t want to stop either.”

Ahead of today’s meeting in Adelaide, Mr Morrison announced a $1.25bn boost to health services across the nation.

“We will deliver more doctors, more nurses and more health services into every state and territory. This is the tangible benefit of strong economy and it’s why I am so committed to keeping our economy strong,” he said.

The extra funds come on top of the National Health Reform Agreement, which will deliver more than $30bn in extra public hospital funding between 2020-21 and 2024-25.

Victorian Education Minister James Merlino indicated the state would muscle up to the Morrison government over the proposed Gonski 2.0 school funding deal.

“What the Liberals have put on the table is an unfair deal that provides less funding than our students deserve,” Mr Merlino said. “We will not sign up to a deal that short-changes Victorian kids.”

Additional reporting: Luke Griffiths, Rachel Baxendale, Jared Owens