Strife for new south wales

Victorian Premier John Brumby says the Federal Government should not offer New South Wales any one-off payments to help dig it out of its financial strife...

With NSW facing a £395 million deficit and the fallout from an unpopular mini-Budget, Mr Brumby had no sympathy for his NSW counterpart Nathan Rees.

He said next week's Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting should instead reward those states that had performed well, rather than subsidising failure.

"We don't want any one-off deals in relation to COAG. We want every state treated the same and money provided to the states on the basis that they achieve specified outcomes," Mr Brumby told the National Press Club in Canberra.

Mr Brumby's comments follow the weekend's suggestion by the Australian Industry Group that the Federal Government take NSW outside the COAG process and devise a plan to fix "a really sad state".

Source: www.news.com.au