Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to call on the Prime Minister and the Liberal and National parties to rule out a plan to impose the goods and services tax on the rents of mobile home residents. I ask this on behalf of the thousands of residents in my electorate who live in mobile home parks and who are very fearful of the recent draft Australian Taxation Office decision to overturn the exemption from imposing GST on mobile home rents. Should this ruling be enacted, the effect on residents who live in the numerous mobile home parks would be devastating. The fact is, they simply cannot afford a 10 per cent increase in their rents. Indeed, many pensioners and older Australians reside in these mobile home parks on the North Coast of New South Wales, and this draft ruling is causing massive distress and uncertainty for them.

When the GST was introduced, mobile home parks were deemed residential premises and were therefore exempt from GST. However, on 30 October 2013 the ATO released a plan saying that these mobile home estates would no longer be considered residential premises and therefore not exempt from GST. As you can imagine, there are massive amounts of distress and uncertainty in relation to this draft taxation ruling. Today, on behalf of these very concerned residents in my electorate of Richmond on the North Coast of New South Wales, I call on the Prime Minister to please act urgently and immediately rule out this unfair plan that imposes the GST on mobile home rents. The residents in my electorate simply cannot afford this 10 per cent increase. It is causing distress among thousands of residents in my electorate.