Henry Pike (Bowman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Mallee for bringing forward this excellent motion. I think the start of a new parliamentary term is an important opportunity for us to send a strong message to the government that this is a pressing issue, as the minister stated at the start of this process 14 months ago. It is long overdue that we had a proper look at this. It was very good that the committee undertook this inquiry into local government's financial sustainability last term, and it's unfortunate that, given the short nature of our parliamentary terms, it wasn't completed satisfactorily. I thought that, in my comments today, I might underscore those points and also use this opportunity to explain what this actually means for the people out there, particularly the people in my electorate of Bowman.

We've just gone through the season of budget setting and unfortunately, for a lot of Queensland local governments, we've seen a lot of rate rises throughout local governments in Queensland, including in the Redland City Council in my electorate of Bowman. The Redland City Council handed down its latest budget in June, and for my local residents it has certainly hit hard. We've seen a minimum general rate increase of 7.89 per cent and an 11 per cent increase in fees and charges, and that's on top of all the other increases that people are facing at the supermarket, at the bowser and with household bills of every variety.

It's easy, of course, for local residents to blame their local council and point the finger, saying, 'Ah, you're upping my rates! This is terrible. Take better care of our money.' But when you look at the scale of the cost shifting that has happened in local government across this country, you see it's not just in regional communities, such as those the member for Mallee represents. In every community in this country we are seeing federal government in rapid retreat from financial support for local governments, and ultimately it's the ratepayer—the end user—who's paying the cost for it. We need to be entirely honest about why this is happening, and I think an inquiry, or a reheating of this inquiry, to get to the bottom of it and have some actual recommendations would certainly be worthwhile. The question has to be asked as to why councillors are having to take these steps. In Queensland, in particular, we've seen huge rate increases. Unfortunately, this inquiry, in the course of the last term, only achieved an interim report. It offered no recommendations, and we need to really send a strong message that we want to have this committee look into this again and come up with some serious answers and recommendations.

I've got quite an interesting and unique situation in this parliament—

I think I do, Member for Groom. In fact, you might be fairly similar, but I think you're just on the outside of it. I represent an electorate that has one local government area—no overlap, no leftovers.

An honourable member: Three!

Three! I'd hate to think how many some of my colleagues have, but I have one local government area—perfectly aligns. Unfortunately, I think we may have a redistribution in Queensland at the next election. I may have to gain or lose a little bit—who knows!—but, hopefully, I can keep it exactly the way it is. It means that I've got a very strong relationship with my council, and I'm very closely in contact with my local councillors and can find out the impact of all these cuts. Unfortunately, in the life of the first term of this government, we saw a lot cut from the Redland City Council's bottom line. I'm just using this as an example. I'm sure there are similar stories across the country.

The federal government cut $13 million from the local roads and community infrastructure fund which was going to the Redlands. This money was earmarked for upgrading local streets, footpaths and community spaces, and now it's gone. We've had mentioned already the impact of the financial assistance grants and how they're not keeping in line with the total—

An honourable member interjecting—

The member may recall that I perhaps wasn't here in the early stages of the previous government, but he may be mistaking his memory. An unfair note from my local government in particular is the cutting of the native title respondent funding scheme. We've got 3½ thousand council owned lots in my electorate which are subject to a native title claim, and it's a significant cost on our council budget to have to respond to those claims. We've got a hearing coming up in September and we were hoping to get some federal government support on that cost, and unfortunately that was cut. It's another area of this endless from funding local governments that we're seeing from the current federal government. So I strongly support the motion and I hope that the committee will undertake that action. (Time expired)

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