Northern Metropolitan Region
Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (13:03): (673) My constituency question is for the Treasurer, and it concerns the land tax increase. Last week I brought the Shadow Treasurer Brad Rowswell to the electorate of Greenvale and visited Roxburgh Village to see the challenges that local businesses are facing. We met Rudi and Letty from Philmart Asian Groceries. The landlord has now passed Labor’s increased land tax directly on to this small family-run business. They say they are just surviving and cannot pass on the already high rent charges to customers in a cost-of-living crisis. Rudi and Letty are facing soaring energy costs and a slowdown in sales, and businesses have already been bludgeoned by this tax when they can least afford it. Many businesses are struggling just to break even, and many in the shopping centre have shut down. Has the Treasurer had any briefings or undertaken any modelling on the impact this increased land tax has had on small and family businesses?