Today’s announcement* by Bill Shorten that a Labor Government would legislate to give Western Australia more GST is a recipe for disaster for Tasmania.
So far, Mr Shorten has refused to guarantee Tasmania would not be one cent worse off under his plan to change the way GST is distributed.
The Federal Government’s plan not only sees Tasmania’s fair share of GST locked in, Tasmania actually gets $112 million in additional GST funds.
Under Labor’s plan, Tasmania would have its GST share cut to prop up Western Australia.
Labor’s plan would rip the guts out of Tasmania’s budget. It would undo all of the good work we have done to repair the budget and get our finances back on track. It would destroy business confidence, cause a spike in unemployment and trash Tasmania’s economy.
It’s a recipe for disaster and I call on Rebecca White to stand up to Mr Shorten and get him to dump this dangerous policy.