Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will battle it out with the Commonwealth over health and education funding and tax reform. Picture: Tara Croser. Source: News Corp Australia
PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk could back an increase in the Medicare levy if it means more funding for health.
Ms Palaszczuk will fly to Sydney this afternoon ahead of tomorrow’s COAG leader’s retreat where she and her fellow ministers will battle it out with the Commonwealth over health and education funding and tax reform.
While she has ruled out supporting an increase in the GST, Ms Palaszczuk said she would be speaking to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews about his call for an increase in the Medicare levy.
“I am going down there with an open mind but I made it very clear during the last election that I did not support any increase in the GST,” Ms Palaszczuk
“However Daniel Andrews has raised an issue that I am prepared to give consideration to and that is about an increase in the Medicare levy.
“At the moment I’ve got my departments working on some modelling and that could be away forward.”
Ms Palaszczuk said she would be meeting with Labor Premier’s today ahead of the retreat and was also seeking a meeting with Prime Minister Tony Abbott either before or after the retreat to further her push for him to give Queensland a $1 billion slice of the Commonwealth’s $5 billion asset recycling scheme, without having to sell assets first.