Thursday, 23 June 2022

 Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (17:42): (2015) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Local Government and concerns the extraordinary increase in rates proposed by the Glenelg shire and included in the draft budget due to be discussed and voted on by councillors next week. The Andrews government boasted that the introduction of its Fair Go Rates cap in 2016–17 would prevent councils from socking ratepayers with above-inflation bill hikes. The cap for the 2022–23 year is 1.75 per cent, yet despite this and despite the glaring fact that this draft budget from Glenelg promises no new council services to hard-pressed ratepayers, it shows the total rate revenue will increase from $25.1 million to a staggering $28.8 million. That is an awful lot more than 1.75 per cent. It is an extra $3.7 million, or 14.7 per cent to be exact. On top of significant increases last year, this proposal would make the Glenelg shire one of Victoria’s highest taxing regional councils. What is this if not a mockery of the Fair Go Rates policy? More than $3.5 million for no new services—it has been described to me as a blatant money grab.

I also want to comment on the effect on farmers, who appear in current drafts to be worse affected even than other ratepayers. While the average general rate will increase to $2065, representing a 20 per cent increase, for farmers it is even higher. Their rise is nearly 25 per cent. It is a huge cost. Many already pay tens of thousands of dollars for very little service and will now see rate increases—not total rates—well into five figures. Tens of thousands of dollars more for what? For some, rates will become the biggest annual cost beyond even fertiliser or bills or employee costs, so how can we expect these businesses to operate in this environment? If the Glenelg shire is allowed to exploit a technicality, ditch the Fair Go principle and arbitrarily increase rates by tens of thousands of dollars, why would anyone want to do business there? Minister, the action I seek is a further assessment by you of the Glenelg shire’s proposed budget and its compliance with the letter and spirit of the Andrews government’s Fair Go policy.