2015-09-01
Ms DUNN (Eastern Metropolitan) — I rise to condemn the government's full-frontal attack on local government. The Essential Services Commission's blueprint for rate capping goes too far. Whatever the motivation, the government is turning its back on the critical role of local government in providing services to local communities and turning its back on disadvantaged communities in particular, as it is precisely those communities that are going to be hit hardest by rate capping.
Even before the details of the new scheme were released, the chilling effect of the antidemocratic rate cap has seen many job losses across local government. These job losses are at the community interface, in service provision — service provision in youth and family services, drug and alcohol support services, and maternal health and aged-care services, to name a few. While the overall impact on ratepayers will be minimal, the impact on service planning for councils will be exponentially worse. For example, it has been calculated that in the city of Frankston a $1.73 per week rate cap bonus to ratepayers will translate into a $22 million black hole for the council and that community over four years.
The one-size-fits-all approach has nothing to do with the real costs borne by local councils — costs like wage indexation and infrastructure costs. It is clear that the easiest decision for councils will be simply to cut services and halt infrastructure. Whichever way you look at it, rate capping is bad for local communities and bad for local democracy. Instead of capping rates, why not rely on the Local Government Victoria performance reporting framework, the infrastructure indicators set by the Auditor-General and the democratic process.