Ms MARTIN - 2000-02-23
Mr Speaker, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Commonwealth Finance Minister told federal parliament last week that after the GST is introduced, and I quote the Parliamentary Secretary: ‘Of course you need a reduction in specific purpose payments and there will be a removal of Commonwealth funding of some health, education and community services’.
Yesterday, the Treasurer told us that after 5 years the Territory budget would be $220m better off under a GST. So how does the Treasurer propose to fill the annual $310m budgetary hole caused by the removal of the specific purpose payments by his mates in Canberra?
ANSWER
First, you got it wrong, which isn’t unusual for you. I think the figure of $220m is over 10 years actually.
Members interjecting
Mr REED: You can check on that.
A member interjecting.
Mr REED: You don’t want it? Now the other point I would just like to make is of course the Leader of the Opposition has just, not that she has to prove it, but she has just reinforced a comment she herself made on ABC Radio on Monday, and that is that she is not here to be a good Leader of the Opposition. Unnecessary to say it and we are all patently aware of it. It is obvious by your performance. Now, the fact is that a revised tax system is going to do this country and all of the state and territory governments a power of good. The best demonstration of that is that the Chief Minister had Bob Carr claw up over his back and leave his footprints on the back of his suit coat to sign up. That’s how keen he was, that’s how keen he was ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: ... he would have ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr REED: ... told our Opposition Leader that in Tasmania last week and, of course, she would have received, perhaps not listened to or had it soak in, a lot of advice from her economics adviser in relation to ...
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The question goes to the heart of the specific purpose payments of $310m a year and what happens to those, how he’s going to fill the hole, and I’m asking you to direct him to answer the question.
Mr SPEAKER: As I’ve indicated to members in the past, a minister has quite broad scope in answering a question and I would provide the minister with that leeway and less interjection and points of order would allow for answers to be a little more brief.
Mr REED: Thank you. I would appreciate if the members opposite weren’t so rude, particularly in front of the schoolchildren, to demonstrate that you’re a bit businesslike rather than just outright rude.
So, from the point of view of the new tax system it is more than a GST. It is a comprehensive arrangement that will see the benefits flow to every member of the community. It is now becoming apparent why the federal Leader of the Opposition and the Territory Leader of the Opposition have raised this smokescreen of anti-GST and that became apparent after their meeting in Tasmania last week, because that is the distraction that they’ve been providing so that they can on 1 July, once people - the 80% of people in Australia - experience up to $50 a week extra in their pay packets, that’s what they are going to steal.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Territory, in Tasmania last week joined a pact with her boss, Kim Beazley, to get into the pockets of the tax benefits that are going to flow to Territorians, if he got into government. And on the radio and television reports ...
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr Burke: What are you talking about?
Mr REED: ... Kim Beazley has now said to us ...
Mr Burke: He should be back in Burnie thinking about what he’s up to, old Beazley.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: This is what they talked about last week. Kim Beazley said this morning in the news report that it wouldn’t be honest for him to tell Australians what he was going to do in relation to rolling back the GST.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr REED: Well, if it’s not honest, the opposite is that what he would say if he did say it, would be dishonest. I mean, where’s he coming from? Does he think Australians are fools? He’s got you sucked in, but Australians can see through it. In addition to that, of course, there’s a very good reason why he can’t be honest at the moment, because the answer to being honest is, ‘Yes, I’m going to take some of your tax savings that you’re going to get on 1 July’.
Mr Burke: That’s why he can’t answer.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr REED: You have to tell us what you agreed to last week. Did the member for Fannie Bay agree to take $10 a week, $20 a week, how much?
Mr Burke: How many SPPs will Beazley roll back?
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: How deep is the Leader of the Opposition going to get into people’s tax savings if Beazley gets in?
Now in addition to that ...
Members interjecting.
Mr Burke interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Chief Minister is called to order.
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order, the member for Nhulunbuy.
Mr REED: ... and so to cover the very simplistic points that the Leader of the Opposition put forward and she is an economic ignoramus when it comes to understanding the budgetary arrangements. To cover her perceived cutbacks I remind you, and you have got it all …
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: Well you have got it. Okay, well you want the answer. Well you are a goose because you have got the answer. It is in the Parliamentary Record. You have been given the information in detail. But you do not want to believe it. No state - Carr would have told you this, your economics adviser would have told you this, have a talk to him and listen to what he says, and Carr will tell you just as I have told you in this House and the Chief Minister has advised you the arrangements of the new taxation arrangements, that no state or territory will be worse off in the transitional period to the GST - that’s over the next 3 years. And there’s a possibility, it doesn’t exclude states or territories being better off. And that would be a nice change. When your boss was Finance Minister, he was the one who was ripping off millions of dollars a year from the Territory allocations from the Commonwealth and we were disadvantaged under his rule. He’s got priors. We know what he’ll do and we know that’s why you were sucked in to where he was going to in Tasmania last week, because that’s how he operates.
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Mr Speaker! I think the Treasurer’s been given ample scope and room to answer the question. It’s clear that he can’t, and he should sit down.
Mr SPEAKER: There is no point of order, but I would ask the minister to get on with the answer as quickly as possible, it’s been about 8 minutes. But I do say that, with less interjection - there have been at least 20 extra questions asked of the minister while he’s been on his feet through interjection.
Mr REED: So we’re obliging ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I’ll judge that.
Mr REED: So, no state or territory will be worse off under these arrangements. All the scaremongering that the Leader of the Opposition wants to do on behalf of Kim Beazley will not work. It won’t wash. Just get behind the new tax system. Help people, help business, arrange for their business to be able to take it on, accrue the benefits and be comforted by the fact that no state or territory will be worse off under the transition arrangements and after the transition arrangements the states and territories will be the sole recipients of the GST income.
From that point of view, we’re going to have a firm stream of income. It’s going to be a growth stream of income, not because the GST is going to be increased, but because as the economy grows the disbursements to the states and territories will grow as the GST takings grow with the strength of the economy. For the first time since Federation, states and territories will have an identifiable income source, it will be a growth income source and we won’t be held to ransom by future Kim Beazleys as finance ministers.
Yesterday, the Treasurer told us that after 5 years the Territory budget would be $220m better off under a GST. So how does the Treasurer propose to fill the annual $310m budgetary hole caused by the removal of the specific purpose payments by his mates in Canberra?
ANSWER
First, you got it wrong, which isn’t unusual for you. I think the figure of $220m is over 10 years actually.
Members interjecting
Mr REED: You can check on that.
A member interjecting.
Mr REED: You don’t want it? Now the other point I would just like to make is of course the Leader of the Opposition has just, not that she has to prove it, but she has just reinforced a comment she herself made on ABC Radio on Monday, and that is that she is not here to be a good Leader of the Opposition. Unnecessary to say it and we are all patently aware of it. It is obvious by your performance. Now, the fact is that a revised tax system is going to do this country and all of the state and territory governments a power of good. The best demonstration of that is that the Chief Minister had Bob Carr claw up over his back and leave his footprints on the back of his suit coat to sign up. That’s how keen he was, that’s how keen he was ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: ... he would have ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr REED: ... told our Opposition Leader that in Tasmania last week and, of course, she would have received, perhaps not listened to or had it soak in, a lot of advice from her economics adviser in relation to ...
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The question goes to the heart of the specific purpose payments of $310m a year and what happens to those, how he’s going to fill the hole, and I’m asking you to direct him to answer the question.
Mr SPEAKER: As I’ve indicated to members in the past, a minister has quite broad scope in answering a question and I would provide the minister with that leeway and less interjection and points of order would allow for answers to be a little more brief.
Mr REED: Thank you. I would appreciate if the members opposite weren’t so rude, particularly in front of the schoolchildren, to demonstrate that you’re a bit businesslike rather than just outright rude.
So, from the point of view of the new tax system it is more than a GST. It is a comprehensive arrangement that will see the benefits flow to every member of the community. It is now becoming apparent why the federal Leader of the Opposition and the Territory Leader of the Opposition have raised this smokescreen of anti-GST and that became apparent after their meeting in Tasmania last week, because that is the distraction that they’ve been providing so that they can on 1 July, once people - the 80% of people in Australia - experience up to $50 a week extra in their pay packets, that’s what they are going to steal.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Territory, in Tasmania last week joined a pact with her boss, Kim Beazley, to get into the pockets of the tax benefits that are going to flow to Territorians, if he got into government. And on the radio and television reports ...
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr Burke: What are you talking about?
Mr REED: ... Kim Beazley has now said to us ...
Mr Burke: He should be back in Burnie thinking about what he’s up to, old Beazley.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: This is what they talked about last week. Kim Beazley said this morning in the news report that it wouldn’t be honest for him to tell Australians what he was going to do in relation to rolling back the GST.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr REED: Well, if it’s not honest, the opposite is that what he would say if he did say it, would be dishonest. I mean, where’s he coming from? Does he think Australians are fools? He’s got you sucked in, but Australians can see through it. In addition to that, of course, there’s a very good reason why he can’t be honest at the moment, because the answer to being honest is, ‘Yes, I’m going to take some of your tax savings that you’re going to get on 1 July’.
Mr Burke: That’s why he can’t answer.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr REED: You have to tell us what you agreed to last week. Did the member for Fannie Bay agree to take $10 a week, $20 a week, how much?
Mr Burke: How many SPPs will Beazley roll back?
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: How deep is the Leader of the Opposition going to get into people’s tax savings if Beazley gets in?
Now in addition to that ...
Members interjecting.
Mr Burke interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Chief Minister is called to order.
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order, the member for Nhulunbuy.
Mr REED: ... and so to cover the very simplistic points that the Leader of the Opposition put forward and she is an economic ignoramus when it comes to understanding the budgetary arrangements. To cover her perceived cutbacks I remind you, and you have got it all …
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: Well you have got it. Okay, well you want the answer. Well you are a goose because you have got the answer. It is in the Parliamentary Record. You have been given the information in detail. But you do not want to believe it. No state - Carr would have told you this, your economics adviser would have told you this, have a talk to him and listen to what he says, and Carr will tell you just as I have told you in this House and the Chief Minister has advised you the arrangements of the new taxation arrangements, that no state or territory will be worse off in the transitional period to the GST - that’s over the next 3 years. And there’s a possibility, it doesn’t exclude states or territories being better off. And that would be a nice change. When your boss was Finance Minister, he was the one who was ripping off millions of dollars a year from the Territory allocations from the Commonwealth and we were disadvantaged under his rule. He’s got priors. We know what he’ll do and we know that’s why you were sucked in to where he was going to in Tasmania last week, because that’s how he operates.
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Mr Speaker! I think the Treasurer’s been given ample scope and room to answer the question. It’s clear that he can’t, and he should sit down.
Mr SPEAKER: There is no point of order, but I would ask the minister to get on with the answer as quickly as possible, it’s been about 8 minutes. But I do say that, with less interjection - there have been at least 20 extra questions asked of the minister while he’s been on his feet through interjection.
Mr REED: So we’re obliging ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I’ll judge that.
Mr REED: So, no state or territory will be worse off under these arrangements. All the scaremongering that the Leader of the Opposition wants to do on behalf of Kim Beazley will not work. It won’t wash. Just get behind the new tax system. Help people, help business, arrange for their business to be able to take it on, accrue the benefits and be comforted by the fact that no state or territory will be worse off under the transition arrangements and after the transition arrangements the states and territories will be the sole recipients of the GST income.
From that point of view, we’re going to have a firm stream of income. It’s going to be a growth stream of income, not because the GST is going to be increased, but because as the economy grows the disbursements to the states and territories will grow as the GST takings grow with the strength of the economy. For the first time since Federation, states and territories will have an identifiable income source, it will be a growth income source and we won’t be held to ransom by future Kim Beazleys as finance ministers.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016