Former premiers Jeff Kennett and Paul Lennon have put party politics aside to blast minority governments in Canberra and Tasmania.
Mr Kennett, the former Liberal premier of Victoria, and Mr Lennon, his Labor counterpart in Tasmania, say modern governments are too poll-driven and lacking in leadership.
…
They disagreed on how to solve Tasmania’s considerable economic woes, but they were singing from the same hymn sheet when it came to Julia Gillard’s minority government and the Labor-Greens power-sharing arrangement in the island state.
“I think when the people get to vote again … the ones who will be out first will be the bloody independents and as many of the Greens as we can possibly show the door to,” Mr Kennett said.
“We need to have a government that can govern.”
Mr Lennon said minority governments had distracted leaders from crucial issues.
“The problem with minority government is that you’re always looking over your shoulder,” he said.
“We haven’t had minority governments very often, so when we have them we’re too often getting sidetracked into the wrong sort of debates and that’s what’s going on now.”
Mr Kennett said the short-term vision of governments made them “corrupt” …
As for Tasmania, which Mr Kennett described as “rats…” before withdrawing the comment, it needed to do away with its upper house and councils that can’t pay their way, the Victorian said.
Read David Beniuk’s full story, ninemsm here
• Mercury: Kennett’s grand Tassie plan. Use the TT NEWS Dropdown (top nav. bar) for other reports/comments
• GST HIKE IS NOT THE ANSWER
Tax Reform Should Start at Home
Tim Morris MP
Greens Treasury Spokesperson
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
The Tasmanian Greens today said that Paul Lennon’s call for an increase in the GST rate [1] was misplaced, and that the immediate focus should be on the state-based taxation reform process, which was deliberately derailed by his former-party and the Liberal party last year.
Greens Treasury spokesperson Tim Morris MP said that increasing the GST rate would not address the essential problem that the GST is a volatile and unpredictable revenue stream for states like Tasmania.
“Mr Lennon was right to point out that the cost of providing public services will soon outstrip incoming revenue, but Tasmania’s response should not be a knee-jerk call for an increase in the rate of GST,” Mr Morris said.
“The low hanging fruit here is Tasmania’s convoluted taxation system, which desperately needs rebuilding from the ground up to remove inefficiencies, inequities and red tape.”
“Tasmania’s payroll and land taxes are built on a narrow base, which means the relatively small number of people and businesses captured by those taxes pay them at very high rates.”
“Broadening the base reduces the volatility of revenue and provides greater certainty for governments concerning future revenues.”
“Decades of exemptions and concessions granted under pressure from lobby groups and vested interests have created a complex system that is expensive to administer, and businesses are screaming out for a simpler way.”
“Let’s not forget that, before Labor and the Liberals walked away from the Greens’ proposed tripartite Tax Review Panel, both parties recognised the need for tax reform. The Greens are the only party still squarely facing up to the need to modernise and streamline the tax system.”
“For the sake of businesses large and small, and for the good of our state revenues, Labor and the Liberals need to come back on board, roll up their sleeves and knuckle down on addressing the urgent need for state-based tax reform.”
[1] “I can’t honestly see how Australians can have, into the future, the public health, public education and public safety facilities and standards that we’re going to need if we’re going to rely on revenue provided through traditional state government sources that are now left available to state governments….”
Former Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon, The Voice of Ideas Forum, 10/07/2012
First published: 2012-07-10 02:00 PM
