Other issues than GST to dominate COAG: PM

Prime Minister Tony Abbott will give state premiers a polite hearing over the GST, but he wants issues such as domestic violence to dominate a meeting of the nation's leaders on Friday.

Ahead of the COAG meeting in Canberra, Mr Abbott cited national security and the ice epidemic as two other priorities for discussion.

"I think they're the things that the public are interested in," he told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday, adding the premiers were free to raise the GST carve-up if they wanted.