Treasurer Peter Gutwein has ruled out resigning if Tasmania’s share of the GST is slashed, as tension mounts over a review of the distribution system.
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It comes after federal Treasurer Scott Morrison said on Tuesday he was still formulating a response to a much-discussed Productivity Commission report on the way GST revenues are carved up among the states and territories.
Mr Morrison said the report would be released to the public “in the balance of a week”.
However, he did foreshadow that the PC had identified “a real problem” with the GST system and that the federal government would be “working to fix that problem”.
“We are taking our time to get it right and we will continue to take the necessary time to get it right,” Mr Morrison said.
In a state budget estimates hearing on Tuesday, Mr Gutwein fielded questions from Labor on potential changes to Tasmania’s share of GST dollars.
Opposition Leader Rebecca White asked Mr Gutwein if he would resign as Treasurer in the event that Tasmania lost out as a result of a possible GST restructure, given he had offered repeated assurances that he would fight “tooth and nail” for the state’s fair share.
“That’s a ridiculous question,” Mr Gutwein replied.
“I certainly won’t be resigning.
“My view is that it will be business as usual.”
Mr Morrison’s comments were made in Canberra as the estimates hearing was underway in Hobart.
Mr Gutwein said his office would arrange for him to speak to Mr Morrison on the phone in light of the federal Treasurer’s recent remarks.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has previously said Tasmania would not be “one cent worse off” than it has been in the past, should the GST system be altered.
But leading economist Saul Eslake has said the state could lose $367 million in one year alone if the current model is abandoned.
Ms White claimed Mr Gutwein was simply accepting the word of the Prime Minister without any real assurance.
“Reduction in GST is the biggest threat to Tasmania in Treasurer Gutwein’s house of cards budget – a fact that he knows but refuses to acknowledge just as he refuses to put up even an adequate fight on behalf of Tasmanians,” Ms White said in a statement.
