Page 1504 - Week 05 - Thursday, 18 April 1991
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The Bill proposes a new title for the Act - the Rates and Land Rent (Relief) Act 1970 - to take account of the fact that relief under the Act involves more than just deferment and remission. The Bill also amends the definition of the word "pensioner" to include updated references to persons receiving benefits under the Social Security Act 1947 and the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986, and deletes references to legislation under which pensions or similar recognised benefits are no longer paid.
The more substantial amendments, however, relate to the rates rebate scheme. The Bill proposes to amend the current scheme by, firstly, providing for part year rebates of rates - general, water and sewerage - for eligible persons and, secondly, removing the requirement for eligible persons to apply for the rebate each rating year. Currently, the requirements for a person to be eligible to apply for a rates rebate are that the applicant be a pensioner - that is, a Department of Social Security personal health benefit card holder or a similar Department of Veterans' Affairs pensioner - and the lessee on 1 July of each rating year for which the rebate is sought, and the property must be the applicant's principal place of residence on that date - that is, 1 July.
A consequence of these criteria is that a person who becomes a pensioner property owner on a date other than 1 July is ineligible to apply for the rebate in the current year and must wait until the following 1 July to apply for the rebate. Clearly, Mr Speaker, the provisions are inequitable. To redress this situation and to provide Territory pensioners with benefits similar to those available in other States, part year rebates for general rates have been granted under the justice and equity provisions of the Rates and Land Tax Act 1926. Part year rebates for water and sewerage are provided under similar provisions of the Electricity and Water Act 1988. While this practice has achieved a just result for pensioner property owners, it is important that the legislation giving effect to the rates rebate scheme be corrected, and this Bill does that.
The Bill also proposes to remove the requirement for pensioners to apply annually for the rebate. In the majority of cases, rates rebate recipients maintain their eligibility from one year to the next, and the requirement for these pensioners, who number approximately 4,000, to apply annually is an inconvenience to them which can be eliminated by administrative arrangements within the departments of social security and veterans' affairs. The effect of the amendment will be that eligible persons need make one application only - the initial application. Ratepayers who received a rebate in 1990-91 will not be required to reapply in 1991-92.
The amendment will also eliminate a peak workload period at the ACT Revenue Office and at ACTEW, through not having to manually process some 4,000 annual applications. Because
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