The Wire

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has finally won Victoria’s support for health reform at the Council of Australian Governments meeting in Canberra. Western Australia’s Liberal Premier Colin Barnett is holding out. In exchange for around $800 million, Victorian Premier John Brumby agreed to give 30% of the state’s GST revenue to the Commonwealth; a nice result heading into his reelection campaign. Health costs are rising faster than inflation, and would have consumed state budgets in the medium term, but are states and territories losing relevance?