Today’s front page of Murdoch’s unAustralian carries the news that billions of dollars will be
stripped from funding to the states in the coming federal budget.
Schools and hospitals will be the hardest hit with Treasury
figures showing the commonwealth savings from cutting funding to the states for
hospitals and schools will escalate rapidly, rising from $1bn in 2017-18 to
$3bn in 2018-19 and $7bn the following year. By 2020-21, it will be $10bn.
Hockey and Abbott justify these funding cuts by pointing out
that under the Australian Constitution health, education and housing are state
responsibilities.
The article contains the following paragraph:
Joe Hockey said yesterday the growth in funding
under Labor’s formula was not sustainable and it was up to the states to find
their own funding for hospitals. “The states want us to do the unpopular things
to raise the moneys so they can spend it,” the Treasurer said. “The states need
to accept responsibility for the things they run. If they do that and if we’re
all -accountable for the things we are actually responsible for, we’ll have a
more efficient system.”
Abbott has
already said that if the states can’t run hospitals and schools with the money
the commonwealth provides, then they can reintroduce their own income tax
schemes or agree to put up GST.
What the
Coalition is doing represents a seismic shift in the delivery of “soft services”
like education and health. It is a
massive attack on the equitable provision of such services and the pointy end
of a nasty austerity agenda.
This little
booklet is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the Coalition’s
use of an out-of-date Constitution to force each state to raise the revenue for
schools, hospitals and housing.
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