Mr Speaker, I am pleased to report to this Assembly on the outcomes of the inaugural meeting of the Ministerial Council charged with the very important task of oversighting the first major reform in Commonwealth-State financial relations in many decades.

The successful introduction of national tax reform and the implementation of the GST are a national priority and I am confident that the decisions from the Council meeting concluded on Friday 17 March will go a long way to ensuring its success.

The outcomes of the meeting should send a clear message to the general public that the reform of Commonwealth-State financial relations is well and truly underway.

Mr Speaker, the meeting of Commonwealth, State and Territory Treasurers covered a number of topics underpinning the new environment of Commonwealth-State Financial Relations, and in particular, considered expected revenue payments to the States and Territories in 2000-01, as well as a range of GST administration issues.

From an ACT perspective, there were a number of very important outcomes with the ACT securing a funding boost of $21.3 million above estimates in the draft ACT Budget for the 2000-01 financial year. This equates to some $30 million, or 8.2 per cent more in Commonwealth funding than this current financial year.

As members would be aware, the bulk of this gain arose from the Ministerial Council decision to adopt the recommendations from the Commonwealth Grants Commission's 2000 Update Report on General Revenue Grant Relativities released on 29 February 2000. This report recommended an initial increase of some $16.8 million to the ACT above the draft estimate. The extra $4.5 million gained at the Council meeting resulted from the application of the recommended GST relativities to a revised GST pool estimated by the Commonwealth.

Mr Speaker; what this basically means for the ACT is that the ACT's increased relative share of the GST pool, which replaces the old financial assistance pool, better than ever before is reflective of the service delivery disabilities and low revenue raising capacities faced by the Territory when compared to other jurisdictions. It continues on the excellent work of ACT officials in the Department of Treasury and Infrastructure.

Importantly, this good outcome provides flexibility for the Government to improve the financial outlook for the Territory through the enhancement of the Budget Surplus and maximises the delivery of services to the Canberra community.