Victorian Labor leader Daniel Andrews says John Brumby wrong over GST

VICTORIAN Labor leader Daniel Andrews has lashed out at his former premier’s support for raising the GST.

Federal Labor Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is greeted by Victorian leader Daniel Andrews, who has criticised former premier John Brumby over his stance on the GST, at the ALP conference at the weekend.

VICTORIAN Labor leader Daniel Andrews has lashed out at his former premier over the GST, declaring that party elder John Brumby has got it wrong in his support for a higher tax take.

Mr Brumby has broken ranks with Labor opposition to the GST, arguing it is the best way of dealing with the states’ $80 billion shortfall on education and health funding.

But Mr Andrews, who served as health minister in the former Brumby government, stridently criticised Mr Brumby’s support for a broader-based GST or a higher rate for the tax.

“John Brumby is wrong on this and John Brumby doesn’t make Labor Party policy anymore,’’ Mr Andrews said.

He also criticised Jeff Kennett’s support for a broadening of the GST base.

But his strongest criticism was reserved for Mr Brumby, who also declared that the furore over federal-state financial relations was inevitable, regardless of the Abbott government’s unpopular budget.

“The budget emergency is in household budgets,’’ Mr Andrews said.

His comments are significant because of the close relationship between the pair when Mr Brumby was premier between 2007 and 2010.

Mr Andrews is running a small target campaign to win power on November 29 and also today said he would be hiring more public servants in Victoria in areas like nursing and emergency services.

The money is almost certain to come out of the Napthine government budget surpluses, if he wins office.

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine also opposes an increase in either the base or rate of GST.

Dr Napthine said today he will raise concerns about federal budget cuts to Victorian services when he meets Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

Dr Napthine has been seeking a meeting with Mr Abbott to resolve what he says is a misunderstanding about how more than $200 million in federal cuts will affect Victoria’s budget.

He will raise his concerns with Mr Abbott with the pair due to attend an event in Geelong, where the economy is stalling due to manufacturing cuts, on Wednesday.

“I expect to see the prime minister in the next 48-hours and I will have those discussions with him,” Dr Napthine said.

“We want discussions with the federal government about how they expect a state with six weeks notice to have these massive impacts on their funding and services.” Dr Napthine said he received a letter from Mr Abbott outlining federal budget decisions which would impact Victorian services. Mr Abbott has said the federal budget decisions won’t impact on the states until post-2017.

But Dr Napthine says Mr Abbott fails to understand the federal decisions will affect Victoria in the areas of health and possibly education in six weeks.

“We need that discussion now, because this impact will be an impact of over $200 million to our budget and we want to determine how we can go forward to protect the services for the people of Victoria,” Dr Napthine said.

Additional reporting: AAP