Tony Abbott has refused to rule out supporting a new GST distribution plan championed by the big Liberal States, which would rip away $630 million a year in GST from Tasmania.
"Mr Abbott's plan is to take money from smaller states like Tasmania and feed it to his mates in the big Liberal states," Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury said.
"His attack on Tasmania's GST means hundreds of millions of dollars less funding, and that means less jobs, less services and less infrastructure for Tasmanians.
"Mr Abbott has previously endorsed the position put forward by some of the Liberal Party Premiers in the big states that their states are unfairly treated under the current GST distribution rules.
"The only way he can fix that is by taking hundreds of millions of dollars off Tasmania."
Mr Bradbury said if a Liberal Government reverted to a 'per capita' funding model for the GST, Tasmania could lose around $630 million per year.
"The Gillard Labor Government will stand up for Tasmania.
"We've already said we support the principle of Horizontal Fiscal Equalisation – that means not letting our smaller states fall behind the big, rich states.
"Labor will fight hard to ensure Tasmania gets access to the funding it needs to support vital services and infrastructure and keep people in jobs."
The Government expects to receive the final report from the GST Review panel in the coming months.
Tony Abbott, 25 August 2012, Press conference in Tasmania
QUESTION:
Will you commit to the current model of GST funding to make sure Tasmania is not left worse off?
TONY ABBOTT:
The thing is that we have a review. It's the Greiner/Brumby review. I think the important thing is to wait and see what this review shows us and if there's anything more to be said by the Coalition we will say it after the review
Tony Abbott, 1 May 2012, The Australian
"I think that it does seem quite unfair that the people of Western Australia get so little back for the GST revenue that they provide to the rest of the country," Mr Abbott said in Perth.
"I think that what ought to be very seriously considered by the government right now is the proposal that all the Liberal states have put up, that the GST revenue should be distributed on what is closer to a per capita arrangement.
"This is the unified position of the Coalition premiers. I think it makes a lot of sense."