On Sunday, June 28, New South Wales Premier Mike Baird and South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill breakfasted at an Adelaide cafe. Baird had flown to SA for the meeting. Their discussion was about Tony…
Treasurer Joe Hockey has always been wary of going on Q&A. He was right. Hockey made policy on the run on the program when he agreed that GST shouldn’t be applied to women’s sanitary products and promised…
Uber drivers have been classified as taxi drivers and will have to register for GST. Uber says they will challenge the decision.
MAHATHIR MOHD YASIN / Shutterstock.com
There is almost nothing in the Constitution that helps us make the system function, as against a mass of gaps and silences that are the sources of our problems.
Introducing a so-called ‘Netflix" tax in Australia makes sense.
AAP/NewZulu/Richard Goldschmidt
The arrival of Netflix in Australia has brought into sharp relief the GST base erosion problem caused by global digital commerce. Along with the non-taxation of low-value imported goods, the absence of…
The Commonwealth appear to hold the aces when it comes to state-federal funding, but the states have cards to play.
AAP/Stefan Postles
Bitter battles about money hang heavily over the Council of Australian Governments meeting, though Tony Abbott wants it to concentrate on the less divisive topics.
Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett has not responded happily to hints by federal government ministers that his state must privatise assets if they want a larger slice of the GST pie.
AAP Image/Sarah Motherwell
Western Australia should not be bullied into microeconomic reform and privatisation by the federal government while their slice of the GST is held to ransom.
Treasurer Joe Hockey has faced a blow in the latest opinion poll.
AAP/Lukas Coch
With the May 12 budget potentially crucial for Tony Abbott’s future, a Fairfax/Ipsos poll shows the government will go into its testing selling task with Treasurer Joe Hockey at rock bottom popularity.
University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Stephen Parker and Michelle Grattan discuss the week in politics, including why Western Australia is wild about a possible cut in its share of GST revenue.
Treasurer Joe Hockey is sympathetic to Western Australia’s GST wishes.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Of all the states, Western Australia is the one that traditionally has had the most individual and, let’s face it, bolshie, identity. When it has a grievance, the west can raise hell for a federal government of either hue.
Fresh fruit and vegetables are currently exempt from GST for equity reasons, but it’s time for a rethink.
Dean Lewins/AAP