The Queensland Government has released a plan it says would stop the state being “short-changed” in the carve-up of national GST revenue.
The plan is contained in a submission to the Federal Productivity Commission, released today.
The Commission is conducting an inquiry into the 2018 GST distribution reforms.
State Treasurer David Janetzki said the submission demonstrated how the existing system was “unfairly punishing the Sunshine State for contributing to the national economy and fuel security while rewarding states which restrict or block development”.
It calls for:
- The introduction of a Canada-style discount to the Commonwealth Grants Commission’s mining assessment to support all states developing their resource industries in the national interest.
- Quarantining federal funding for nationally significant projects, including the Bruce Highway, and major funding streams such as national health reform payments to ensure the state disadvantage recognised in these payments is not unwound by the CGC.
- Embedding simplicity, transparency, predictability and removing impediments to reform as key principles in the CGC’s decision making processes.
- Making the No Worse Off Guarantee permanent if 2018 reforms are retained.
Mr Janetzki said mining assessments under the GST formula should be “appropriately discounted” to reduce GST penalties on resource states like Queensland.
He argued states that developed natural resources were creating jobs and supplying energy that supported the whole country.
He said, despite having the nation’s highest net interstate migration and increasing demands for essential services, Queensland was allocated less GST in 2026–27 than 2023-24.
“In contrast, the national GST pool has grown by nearly 20 percent, Victoria’s GST is up 47 percent, Western Australia is up 43 percent,” he said.
“Queensland’s share of GST has declined in 7 of the 8 years following the 2018 reforms, leaving the state short-changed to the tune of billions of dollars.”
Mr Janetzki said the Federal Government had an opportunity to fix the GST distribution system for the benefit of all Australians.
“We’re making a constructive contribution to this debate, and we are calling on Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers to deliver a fairer system for his home state and the whole nation,” he said.
“The GST distribution system is supposed to ensure governments can provide similar essential services and infrastructure to all Australians no matter where they live but current system isn’t delivering on that promise for Queensland.
“The Commonwealth Grants Commission’s (CGC) broken methodology needs reform to recognise the challenges of servicing Australia’s most decentralised state.”
Queensland’s submission to the Federal Productivity Commission can be found here.
