20th Jun 2018, 6:33 PM – Senate Motions - Goods and Services Tax - Northern Territory productivity

The majority voted against a motion introduced by Australian Conservatives Senator Cory Bernardi, which means it failed.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes the relativities under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) formula show that the Northern Territory has been a substantial outrider at a relativity in excess of 4 since the GST began, compared with every other state and territory having a relativity of less than 2;

(b) also notes the most recent GST distributions whereby:

(i) the Northern Territory has a population of 200,000 and received $2 billion in the last distribution,

(ii) Western Australia has 2 million in population and a $2 billion distribution, and

(iii) New South Wales had 7 million in population and a $17 billion distribution; and

(c) calls upon the Treasurer to direct the Productivity Commission to conduct a full cost–benefit analysis of the Northern Territory's present self-government model, and whether the Commonwealth needs to directly intervene to rapidly improve the Northern Territory's drag on national productivity.