The Melbourne City Council has been urged to apply differential rates “to sites defined as vacant or derelict” by its Future of Melbourne committee. They name to shame the Savoy Tavern on Spencer Street, the Argus building on Latrobe…
17 October 2012 The survey of Victorian local government candidates conducted by Prosper Australia ahead of the 26 October election reveals few candidates understand where and how councils are funded. “We learned only a handful appreciate Site Value Rating is…
Regarding the recent ACT Liberal Party scare campaign against rates, Dr Terry Dwyer writes: Being fundamentally disinterested in political games but keenly interested in policy and good government (which, judging from Mr Slipper’s emails, sadly does not always seem to…
Council Rates: Who Pays More? The land speculator or family home? Under Capital Improved Valuation (CIV)/ Net Annual Value (NAV) the land speculator typically gets a 30% discount in rates over the family home. Capital Improved Valuation penalises homeowners for…
. . . … Madam Speaker, if the Government is to balance the Budget in these difficult times, it cannot afford to indulge in forms of taxation that shrink the economy from which all public revenue is drawn. In some…
Hobsons Bay Council is considering charging residents by the kilogram for garbage removal. While markets have their place, putting a price on rubbish will have many unintended consequences, few of them pleasant. The anti-social will cost-shift, stuffing their garbage into…
Major transport projects costing billions are being proposed for Sydney and Melbourne to shrink these sprawling cities. NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell’s plans to ‘fix’ Parramatta Road by ripping it up and installing the M3 in a cut-and-cover tunnel. The poor…
The solid new trend of falling house prices is confirmed by the ABS today with real prices now in retreat for seven quarters and the downward path accelerating.
ABS Inflation data out today shows a big fat zero: we have nil inflation, at least for this quarter. The consequences for interest rates are profound. Mortgage rates may seem reasonable at 6 to 7 per cent. In practice they…
21 Nov 2011 Moonee Valley Leader Council’s three strikes HINDSIGHT (‘‘Cinema plan stalled’’, Leader, November 14) has confirmed what we suspected at the time: the first mistake by the former Moonee Valley Council commissioners was to close the Moonee Ponds…