Page 3679 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 13 September 2017
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This issue, the issue of rising rates, has been front of mind for the Canberra Liberals for many years. This is a huge issue, and it is an issue that is not going away. We are not talking about rates rising in line with inflation; we are talking about rates doubling and tripling for people who are not getting anything by way of extra services. Even if you are one of the people who can afford these increases in rates and/or land tax, there is still a question of whether you are getting value for money and there is still a question of fairness.
We on this side of the Assembly continue to raise this issue of rates, but it seems that the message that comes back from the government time and time again is that the rising costs of living in Canberra should be accepted: we should all just shut up and accept that this is the cost of the Labor government.
Members of the government are always harping on about helping the Canberra community, helping those in need. That is, of course, a worthy aspiration. Unfortunately, it is just lip service when you continue to slug Canberrans so much by way of rates and a rent tax, which is what land tax really is. It does not matter how much money you pour into funding one side of the same-sex marriage campaign; you will not fool Canberrans that you are standing up for their best interests. You are treating rates like the elephant in the room, thinking that everything will be okay if we just do not talk about it.
The rates revenue increase for 2017-18 is 12 per cent. This revenue base is going from $281 million as an estimated outcome in 2016-17 to more than $315 million this year, and that is certainly not down to a pure increase in the number of rateable properties. For the past few years at budget time, the Canberra Times and the ABC have done good work in analysing rates increases in various parts of Canberra. This year, the trend of increases across every suburb was again a constant theme.
Let me just pick one suburb from each region in Canberra, each district. In Ainslie, in the inner north, the increase for houses was 11 per cent, the increase for units 22 per cent. In Griffith, houses are up nine per cent, units up a whopping 23 per cent. In Chifley, in the Woden valley, houses are up eight per cent, units up 24 per cent. In Banks, in Tuggeranong, houses are up four per cent, units up 18 per cent. In Aranda, in Belconnen, houses are up nine per cent, units up 21 per cent. In Jacka, in Gungahlin, houses are up six per cent, units up 11 per cent.
Anywhere else in Australia a council would usually have to apply for a special exemption to increase rates over a threshold. Often the threshold is five per cent. Anything over five per cent for a council is deemed to be a big deal. Yet here in Canberra every single unit owner is getting double-digit increases in their rates. And not only that: this is all compounded. This is not just a one-off; this is not just eight per cent on the base. This is on eight per cent or 10 per cent, on eight per cent, on eight per cent, on eight per cent, on eight per cent, since 2012. The increases are astronomical.
It is no wonder that so many people are choosing to move across the border. It is a great shame when there are people who grow up in Canberra or who have lived their
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