'Complete bulls***': War of words erupts between Victorian Premier and Queensland Treasurer over GST carve up
A war of words has erupted between two of Australia's largest states after Queensland Treasurer David Janetzki blamed the Victoria and New South Wales governments for the Queensland's $8.6 billion budget black hole.
Mr Janetzki used a speech on Monday to claim Queenslanders are being forced to compensate Victoria and NSW for their 'policy failures' as a result of the latest carve-up of GST revenue, which will see the state deprived of $5.3 billion over the next three years.
'Queensland, with its own newly re-established Productivity Commission, is doing the heavy lifting on productivity; our gas is solving the southern states' energy crisis and our GST revenue is going to Victoria to keep their hospital lights on,' the LNP Treasurer said.
Queensland's share of GST revenue and 'no worse off payments' is set to fall by $2.3 billion in 2025-26, while Victoria's share will increase by almost $4 billion.
But Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan hit back at the Queensland Treasurer on Monday.
'Let me put it in language and in a way that the Queensland treasurer can understand. It's just bulls***,' Premier Allan told reporters.
'Because when you look at the history of the GST, Victoria has been a net contributor to the tune of $31 billion and the Queensland budget's black hole, their 8-billion-plus black hole, has got nothing to do with the circumstances here in Victoria.'
The Commonwealth Grants Commision's calculations show the largest factor in their decision to recommend a drop in Queensland's GST revenues was a massive boost in the state's coal royalties.
But Mr Janetzki took aim at other calculations used for the determination.
'We were stripped of $800m to reimburse New South Wales and Victoria for Covid-19 policy failures, five years after the fact,' the LNP Treasurer said.
He also claimed Victoria had received 'twice as much funding for ferries as Brisbane' despite more than 4 million people using Brisbane's ferries and Melbourne only operating the barely-used Westgate Punt.
But Premier Allan described this as 'nonsense'.
'What a load of nonsense. What a load of misinformed nonsense,' she said
'I think we've made an investment of something like $600,000 over two years into the Westgate Punt. This isn't the cause of Queensland's budget challenges - their $8.6 billion black hole.
'I think the Queensland treasurer would be better off focusing on the facts and focusing on what we need to all focus on as state governments, and that is working with the federal government, securing a fairer share of infrastructure funding, of GST allocation.
'These nonsensical pot shots across state borders are just that - complete nonsense.'
The CGC's latest GST distribution shows Queensland will get back 85 cents for every $1 of GST revenue it contributes in 2025-26, down from 95 cents in 2024-25.
This compares to Victoria's share, which is set to increase from 96 cents to just over $1 over the same period.
However 2025-26 will be the first year Victoria has received back more GST revenue than it has contributed, whereas Queensland has received more revenue than it has contributed for 19 of the past 25 years.
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