The Tasmanian Greens today said that Denison House of Representatives MP Andrew Wilkie is in a panicked tail-spin over revelations that his $340 million Royal Hobart Hospital deal with the Commonwealth is not additional money for the State.
Greens Health spokesperson Paul O’Halloran MP said that many in the community had the impression at the time of the Commonwealth-Wilkie RHH deal that this was additional money on top of the normal Tasmanian Budget Federal and State funding allocations, and were shocked to discover that this was not the case many months later.
Mr O’Halloran also laughed off Mr Wilkie’s desperate claim the Greens are somehow trying to stop the RHH redevelopment, saying that the Greens have always supported a new RHH, but also believe that people deserve to know all the facts.
“While we recognise that this may be of some embarrassment for Mr Wilkie, this reaction is really quite bemusing as it only draws more attention to the problem,” Mr O’Halloran said.
“Put simply, Tasmanians were allowed to believe that the RHH deal secured additional funding for Tasmania on top of other normal funding processes. All the Greens have done is expose that this is not the case, but instead will be offset against those other funding sources.”
“Clearly this situation has serious ramifications for the State Health Budget and the challenges it faces in providing services, especially considering that the State is locked into spending all $225 million of its share in the redevelopment.”
“What kind of a shaky deal did Mr Wilkie sign off on with the Commonwealth, if one question in the State Parliament can suddenly risk unravelling it?”
“Tasmanians deserve to know the full context of the RHH funding deal and we are surprised that Mr Wilkie has had such an allergic reaction to this transparency.”
“Why this tirade out of the blue now, ten days after I actually asked the question? It appears that Mr Wilkie is under some pressure and possibly receiving pointed questions he cannot answer, so instead is resorting to attacking the messenger.”
“The Greens welcome the fact that Mr Wilkie will be writing to the Prime Minister about the RHH deal, and we urge him to use that opportunity to seek an undertaking that the RHH deal will not impact upon Tasmania’s allocation of the federal GST carve-up.”
“You would think that given Mr Wilkie’s professed passion for standing up for Tasmania, he would be happy to do so,” Mr O’Halloran said.
Text of Question asked in the State Parliament by Paul O’Halloran MP, Wednesday 23 November 2011:
Last year a very well publicised deal was made to secure Commonwealth funding for the Royal Hobart Hospital re-development, between the Commonwealth and the Federal Member for Denison.
The redevelopment money was a total of $565 million, in Commonwealth and state money. The Commonwealth contribution is $340 million, most of it ($307 million) due for payment in 2010-11. (The state contribution is $225 million, due to be paid over six years from 2010-11 to 2015-16.)
Premier, can you confirm that when this deal was negotiated, that these federal negotiations did not include an exemption for the Commonwealth’s $340 million contribution from the Commonwealth Grants Commission’s process of fiscal redistribution?
Is it a fact that Under the Grants Commission system, any money one state gets that the others don’t is taken back in the form of reduced GST revenues. And further, that this money is then redistributed to all states and territories according to their GST entitlements.
Premier, can you please detail to this House exactly how much of this Commonwealth contribution of $340 million you expect to see once the redistribution has been factored in? Has it impacted on the States current GST revenues and subsequently, the current health budget situation? Will it impact on future State Budgets? Is it too late to negotiate to have this exemption put in place, and have you taken steps to do so?
