THE Queensland government has laughed off claims by Canberra that the state has scored a "windfall" of $700 million in the annual carve-up of GST revenue.
Treasurer Tim Nicholls says figures released on Friday were already in the Queensland budget and are "not new news or a windfall".
"No new funds are available and in fact the Federal Government is clawing back health payments to the tune of $103 million," Mr Nicholls said in a statement.
Senior government minister Craig Emerson said the independent Commonwealth Grants Commission's latest assessment was a "great boost" to Queensland.
The commission has proposed Western Australia's GST share be cut by more than half a billion dollars because of its booming mining sector.
Queensland, it said, should get $700 million more because of the impact of lower coal prices and a sluggish property market on its economy.
Mr Emerson says Premier Campbell Newman has run out of excuses for his savage cuts to jobs and services.
"Stop sacking nurses and other frontline service providers," Dr Emerson told reporters in Canberra.
Treasurer Wayne Swan said Mr Newman should put the money back into frontline services.
"This massive funding injection will be a welcome boost to Queensland, particularly after the vicious cuts undertaken by the Newman LNP Government over the last 6 months," he said.
"In light of this windfall, the Federal Government is calling on the Newman LNP Government to immediately reinstate the frontline health and education services they have so savagely cut."
But Mr Nicholls shrugged off both comments as utterly ridiculous.
"The previous Labor Government left Queensland's finances in an unsustainable position, with debt heading towards $85 billion and a deficit of $5.5 billion," he said.
"While we know Queensland's share of GST will rise from 19.9 per cent to 21.5 per cent, we still don't know how much we will actually receive because Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan is refusing to reveal the total size of the GST pool.
"Their ineptitude is now impeding the States' ability to plan their budgets."
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