Regional rates reform
Ms CUPPER (Mildura) (09:53): Last week I wrote to every state and federal regional MP in Victoria—all 61—to request their backing for RateGate, which is my electorate’s campaign to fix the scandalous disparity between rural-regional and metropolitan rates. This disparity sees ratepayers in my electorate paying up to six times the rates of a ratepayer in Melbourne for a property of the same value. Often councils are blamed for this disparity, but this is unreasonable because the source of the problem is not managerial but structural, and those structures are determined by state and federal governments. My letter invites regional MPs to unite across party lines and lobby for change for the benefit of rural and regional ratepayers, for whom rates are a major cost-of-living issue. I would encourage each of the 61 recipients to read the letter carefully and consider the actions that I have proposed. Addressing this disparity is a complex task, but it is entirely achievable with the right political will, and it is about time we stopped paying mere lip-service to this at election time, took it out of the too-hard basket and did something meaningful. Regional rate reform matters to farmers and it matters to ratepayers, and therefore it should matter to all of us as rural and regional MPs, regardless of our party or our colour. I invite and encourage all regional Victorian MPs to engage with me on this issue and as a first step to help lobby the federal coalition government and Labor opposition ahead of the federal election.