Recommendation 9.1: Improvements to the HFE Accept in-principle, subject to consultation with system can only go so far. the States. The Commonwealth and State Governments, Commonwealth-State relations are fundamental to through the Council on Federal Financial Relations the smooth operation of our country. To ensure and recently formed Board of Treasurers, should this relationship continues to remain effective, we work towards meaningful reform to federal should constantly review and refine it. financial relations. In the first instance, the process should: assess how Commonwealth payments to the States both general revenue assistance and — payments for specific purpose interact with — each other, given the significant reforms to payments for specific purposes that have occurred in recent years develop a better-delineated division of responsibilities between the States and the Commonwealth and establish clear lines and forms of accountability. Policies to address Indigenous disadvantage should be a priority. Following this, options to address the vertical fiscal imbalance should be considered and advanced. GST Distribution Review Final Report, October 2012: Recommendation Recommendation 3.2 on rounding relativities: To Accept, subject to consultation with the States. ensure the system does not appear to be falsely precise, In addition to the PC’s Recommendations, the the Panel recommends that relativities produced from Government agrees that implementing this additional the CGC’s process be rounded to two decimal places in recommendation from the 2012 GST Distribution the annual Updates and Reviews. Review would further address false precision in the system.
Recommendation 9.1: Improvements to the HFE system can only go so far. The Commonwealth and State Governments, through the Council on Federal Financial Relations and recently formed Board of Treasurers, should work towards meaningful reform to federal financial relations. In the first instance, the process should: assess how Commonwealth payments to the States — both general revenue assistance and payments for specific purpose — interact with each other, given the significant reforms to payments for specific purposes that have occurred in recent years develop a better-delineated division of responsibilities between the States and the Commonwealth and establish clear lines and forms of accountability. Policies to address Indigenous disadvantage should be a priority. Following this, options to address the vertical fiscal imbalance should be considered and advanced. Accept in-principle, subject to consultation with the States. Commonwealth-State relations are fundamental to the smooth operation of our country. To ensure this relationship continues to remain effective, we should constantly review and refine it. GST Distribution Review Final Report, October 2012: Recommendation Recommendation 3.2 on rounding relativities: To ensure the system does not appear to be falsely precise, the Panel recommends that relativities produced from the CGC’s process be rounded to two decimal places in the annual Updates and Reviews. Accept, subject to consultation with the States. In addition to the PC’s Recommendations, the Government agrees that implementing this additional recommendation from the 2012 GST Distribution Review would further address false precision in the system.
p2018-308096.docx