Page 1198 - Week 03 - Thursday, 31 March 2011
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growth population. We are a vibrant industry. So people are coming here for work, employment, to raise their families. So there are multiple factors.
By the time we finish putting on line all the housing stimulus, we will have nearly 12,000 properties. So we will have the highest number of social housing properties that we have ever had, which is a good outcome. Some of these responses, such as bringing on these transitional houses, are all about that response. That is why I have the roundtables with the sector and that is why I value this data. As confronting and as challenging as this new data is, it is now that we have got this data that we are engaging—we always have, but me personally—more first hand with the sector so that we can bring on some of those programmatic responses.
Taxation—GST review
MR SMYTH: My question is to the Treasurer. Treasurer, the Prime Minister, Ms Gillard, has announced that there will be a review of the way in which the revenue generated by the GST is allocated between the states and territories. Treasurer, since you have been Treasurer, the relativity used by the Commonwealth Grants Commission to allocate funds to the ACT has fallen by 12 per cent. Treasurer, what confidence can the ACT community have in your capacity to argue the case for the ACT to receive additional funding from GST revenue?
MS GALLAGHER: Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I note the opposition position is now that we should not stand on our own two feet but be completely dependent on commonwealth grants being maintained in perpetuity instead of growing our economy.
Opposition members interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Order, members!
MS GALLAGHER: One of the major adjustments to our GST revenue in the last two years has been based on the strength of our economy—how our economy has been performing. The fact is that the commission has recognised that. Indeed, they have recognised the revenue generated from the strength of the economy and they have taken that money off us.
They have had views that we would not share around our own infrastructure needs and the fact that we need less infrastructure than other jurisdictions based on socioeconomic status. So there are issues I think that this review should examine and certainly the ACT government will be putting our case very strongly as, indeed, we have to the Commonwealth Grants Commission in the past.
There is a GST pie. It has to be carved up eight ways. There are going to be winners and there are going to be losers in that. It is all right—everyone is happy when they are on the winning side; nobody is happy when they are on the losing side. Certainly, the ACT government believes that our needs have not been recognised adequately in the last major review. There has been an annual update this year which again has
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