Malcolm Turnbull like Tony Abbott on GST: Annastacia Palaszczuk

Tax reform has well and truly altered the words Annastacia Palaszczuk has for Malcolm Turnbull, with the Queensland Premier now asking the Prime Minister to prove he is not Tony Abbott.

After months of praise for Mr Turnbull, which followed an acrimonious relationship with his predecessor, Ms Palaszczuk has split with the Prime Minister on the issue of tax reform.

Queensland has ruled out supporting an increase to or broadening of the GST, as the federal government looks to fill upcoming funding gaps.

But with leaked documents showing increasing the GST to 15 per cent is being considered, Ms Palaszczuk's praise for Mr Turnbull has turned to attack, with the premier now saying the Commonwealth needs to "clearly state a position".

"If Malcolm Turnbull goes down this path, he is no different to Tony Abbott, they are cut from the same cloth," she said.
 

"Tomorrow's meeting is a line in the sand. A line in the sand for Malcolm Turnbull.

"Is he the same as Tony Abbott, or is he different? Now already we have seen the shifting of the goal posts.

"The states are prepared to sit down and look at reforms, there is a lot of different options that are on the table, but fundamentally, the reason that the issue of tax reform came up is because of the massive cuts to health and education that were done by Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey."

Ms Palaszczuk, along with Victorian Labor Premier Daniel Andrews, supports an incremental increase to the Medicare Levy to pay for health funding cuts, saying it was "logical, it is simple and it makes sense".

But she is yet to say whether she supports former Queenslan premier Campbell Newman's view that the states should be given a slice of income tax to spend as they see fit, instead of national partnerships, which leave the states at the funding mercy of the Commonwealth.

Treasurer Curtis Pitt has suggested granting the states income tax was a possible longterm solution, but Ms Palaszczuk said she was concerned with the more immediate problem of the $80 billion national funding gap for health and education, of which Queensland could expect to take a $18 billion hit in the forwards.

"The Commonwealth keeps changing the goal posts," she said.

"Initially the conversation to increase the GST was for the gaps in health and education.

"Then the Commonwealth moved away from that, and were looking at lowering the thresholds for income tax.

"We don't know what the clear position of the Commonwealth is. And that is the fundamental problem."

Which brings Ms Palaszczuk back to Mr Turnbull.

"My message to Malcolm Turnbull is come to this meeting tomorrow and be very clear, about where you want to take the Australian public into the future," she said.

"Because, frankly, people are sick of this - not knowing what you stand for, whether you are the same as Tony Abbott or whether you are different?"

Source:: Brisbane Time, dated 10/12/2015.