The ACT government is to take the lead in arguing the case for special assistance for south-eastern NSW and Canberra in the wake of the Hockey "horror budget''.
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Chief Minister Katy Gallagher met with the leaders of regional councils on Friday at the South East Regional Organisation of Councils. Speaking after the meeting, she said local federal parliamentarians and senators, including Angus Taylor (Hume), Peter Hendy (Eden-Monaro) and Senator Zed Seselja, were on notice to speak up for the people of their electorates.
Ms Gallagher said she had "let Dr Hendy know what I thought of the budget'' at Thursday's meeting in Queanbeyan. "I said, 'Within this room, let's not pretend that it was a budget that was good for the region'. I must say, looking around the room, there was a lot of support for that position.''
She said Dr Hendy had told the SEROC delegates that he, Mr Taylor and Senator Seselja "had argued strongly for the regional interest" ahead of the budget.
"My response to that would be, 'It wasn't very much reflected in the papers that I can see'. It certainly doesn't mean they [the local coalition federal politicians] can go quiet now.
"We need to go back [to them] and say, 'We need certain support and we rely on you to raise our voice in the federal government'.''
Ms Gallagher said she had no intention of being "gamed" into calling for an increase in the GST at Sunday's emergency meeting of state and territory leaders. "[First] we need to discuss whether there is a unified position in our response to the Commonwealth,'' she said.
"There was a unilateral decision to take $80 billion out, including $50 billion from health, in Federal funding commitments.
"The first argument is, 'Do we accept that position?' Nobody wants to be drawn into a game on the GST - we need to sit down and ask, 'Is this acceptable that the Commonwealth has just acted unilaterally to withdraw their money and, if you listen to some of the comments coming from the Prime Minister, are seeking to withdraw more of it.''
The Chief Minister has pledged the ACT budget, due to be handed down on June 4, would come in "on time and on budget'' despite a major review of all decision making to date.
"I've actually said to my colleagues that we need to actually revisit all of the decisions we've made to date in relation to the budget,” she said. "And reconsider them in light of the dramatic cuts [of about $100 million] that our budget will now experience over the next few years. So we will have a lot of work to do on Monday and Tuesday [at the scheduled budget meetings]."
She said the ACT was "the only jurisdiction in the forward estimates of this budget that actually takes a cut to health funding".
SEROC's member councils include Bombala, Boorowa, Cooma-Monaro, Eurobodalla, Goulburn-Mulwaree, Harden, Palerang, Queanbeyan, Snowy River, Upper Lachlan, Yass Valley and Young.