It's official: Stadium funding means less GST revenue for Tasmania

This means the state could effectively lose out on GST payments when the Commonwealth Grants Commission determines the state's share at the end of the year and assesses federal payments paid to Tasmania over the budget year.

Dr Chalmers on Thursday replied to a letter from Tasmanian treasurer Michael Ferguson to deny an exemption request.

"Granting an exemption for the Macquarie Point precinct funding would be inconsistent with decisions taken previously, including the $100 million Commonwealth contribution to the North Queensland Stadium in Townsville, which was not exempted," he wrote.

Dr Chalmers said a decision by the federal government to exempt funding for Olympics infrastructure in Brisbane from GST calculations was consistent with a longstanding position to omit funding for the construction of sporting infrastructure specifically required for international competitions.

He said Tasmania was a major beneficiary from the GST distribution system, and had the second highest GST relativity of all jurisdictions.

The 2024-25 federal budget showed Tasmania would receive $3.51 billion in GST receipts over the financial year, even though Tasmanian treasury had forecast $3.54 billion in payments.

Mr Ferguson in parliament on Thursday night said not gaining the GST exemption was detrimental to Tasmania.

"We simply don't know the lost value, it is not able to be calculated in advance," he said.

Liberal senator Jonathon Duniam said other infrastructure projects, aside from that specifically built for international competitions, had been exempted from GST calculations.

He said $50 million in funding to remediate the Macquarie Point site was exempt from GST funding in 2012 as was $730 million in funding for the Mersey Community Hospital in 2018-19.

Two payments related to the Marinus Link project - $56 million in 2020-21 and $93.9 million in 2021-22 - have also been exempted from GST calculations for Tasmania.

"It sets a precedent that Tasmania will stand idly by and allow Canberra to take money due to Tasmania out of its coffers," Senator Duniam said.

Labor's treasury spokesman Josh Willie said Mr Ferguson had failed to negotiate an exemption at the proper time.

"It was established in May last year that Tasmanias treasurer didnt formally request a GST exemption until the afternoon of May 9 after Labor asked about it in parliament that morning, and after Jeremy Rockliff had signed the deal with the AFL," he said.

"If Michael Ferguson wanted a different outcome, he should have negotiated it before the Premier signed a deal, rather than crying foul after the fact."

Green's deputy leader Vica Bayley said the failure to secure a GST funding exemption for the Macquarie Point money was further evidence the deal inked between the Tasmanian government and AFL for a state team, which is contingent on a new stadium, was a dud deal.

"It has Tasmanian taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars, including every single dollar of cost overrun that he will inevitably come with this stadium," he said.

"But now we know that it comes at a cost to our GST over the longer term, and that means it's a cost to healthcare, to housing, to other critical infrastructure that Tasmanians desperately need like housing."