Former prime minister Tony Abbott has lambasted the “childish” states claiming they should stop thinking of the federal government as an ATM that automatically gives them money. From The AFR:
Mr Abbott said many of the states were in better financial shape than the Commonwealth and they should be taking more responsibility for such services as public schools and hospitals.
“It’s time for the states to grow up and act like adult governments rather that constantly blaming the Commonwealth for their problems and to stop treating the Commonwealth as an automatic teller machine,” he said.
One of the reasons the federal government would be funding infrastructure in next week’s budget was because the states had “just dropped the ball”, he said.
No Mr Abbott, it is time for the federal government to grow up.
It is the federal government that chose to massively ramp-up immigration in the early 2000s and in the process crush-load Australia’s cities with tens-of-thousands of extra people each and every year:
And because of the federal government’s mass immigration program, Australia’s population is projected to grow by nearly 400,000 people a year – equivalent to adding a Canberra to Australia’s population – until mid-century:
It is this mass immigration that has caused huge strain on the states, who are struggling to fund the economic and social infrastructure necessary to cope with the population influx – basic things like expanding the road and public transport systems, as well as expanding schools and hospitals.
The situation is made worse by the vertical fiscal imbalances embedded in the system, whereby the Commonwealth raises 82% of total tax revenue, the states and territories 15%, and local government just 3%.
This has left the states – who are the primary providers of public services – to being heavily reliant on the Commonwealth for funding to cope with the population influx bestowed on them by the federal government’s mass immigration program.
If Mr Abbott is so concerned about the states “treating the Commonwealth as an automatic teller machine”, there is a simple solution: slash immigration.
Funnily, just last month Tony Abbott called for immigration to be lowered to reduce pressures on infrastructure and housing:
“There are supply factors and there are demand factors. And one thing the federal government could do that would ease some of the demand pressure is to scale back immigration at least until land release and infrastructure can keep up,” Mr Abbott told reporters on Monday night.
“And frankly there is nothing sacrosanct about any particular immigration number. The Howard government scaled back immigration its first few years for a whole host of reasons”…
There’s your answer right there Mr Abbott – straight from your own mouth.
Slash immigration to alleviate infrastructure pressures on the states as well as provide funding for the problems that your own immigration program has wrought.
It’s that simple. Put up or shut up.
