Alan Bush, Janette Young call for fair rates across Qld

A Queensland ratepayers organisation, exhausted by ‘unfair rates rises’ and their impact on farmers, is calling for state-wide legislation to make rates fairer across the board.

Former Bundaberg region councillor Alan Bush and Bundaberg Ratepayers Association president Janette Young want to see rules in place at a state level that would set a framework for fair rates calculations.

A Queensland ratepayers association has launched a petition to call for a fair and standardised rates system to be adopted across Queensland.

Principal petitioner and Bundaberg Ratepayers Association president Janette Young launched the petition because she believes the state’s ratepayers have a “fundamental right” to fairness, with current guidelines on rates not regulated by law.

Seven key decisions made in council meeting

The move would require state intervention.

The pain of rates rises is felt by many across the state, but among them, it's the people on the land who are feeling increasingly left out and ignored after building up the backbone of the economy.

Former Bundaberg councillor of 20 years and cane farmer Alan Bush is one of those farmers.

He feels rates, which generate about a quarter of council revenue, have gotten out of control.

Bundaberg Ratepayers Association president Janette Young is calling for a fair go with council rates across the state.

In 2020, some farmers in the Bundaberg region copped rates rises of up to 300 per cent after the agricultural category was significantly increased over other zonings.

Mr Bush likens the situation to a produce store selling a bag of potatoes for $100, then $120 the next time. Eventually, you’d stop going back.

“The problem is, say you get 10 per cent of revenue from (rural rates), then rates go up an average of 120 per cent, all of a sudden instead of generating 10 per cent revenue in council they‘re generating 15 per cent,” he said.

“It‘s so easy to fix, just alter the rate in the dollar.”

Mr Bush said he‘d been reluctant to come forward in the past in case it seemed like sour grapes after 2016’s three-way contest in Division One between himself, fellow candidate Greg Messenger and current incumbent Jason Bartels.

But before anyone asks “what Bushy is on about”, he wants people to know he‘s mystified by decisions made by the current council, a number of whom are former growers.

“They should know the problems we have with rural areas,” he said.

“Some years are great, some years are not so great and some are bloody terrible.”

Mr Bush says farmers feel let down.

“I rang most councillors after (the 2020 rates increase) and asked them and not one could give me an answer,” he said.

“The mayor didn‘t even ring me back.

“They had the opportunity to rectify it in the next rates period but they didn‘t do anything.”

If dollars are pouring into council coffers from upped agricultural rates, Mr Bush says he‘s yet to see any tangible benefit in rural areas.

He makes an example of Heales Rd, which he says has sit in disrepair for far too long.

Alan Bush during his early years as a country councillor in Queensland. He wonders why many local government politicians have seemingly forgotten their rural roots.

“It just seems to be inability to actually construct roads in a decent amount of time,” he said.

“The longer a road like that is under construction, the more it‘s costing.”

Services in the country, he says, are getting “less and less”.

“It‘s not too late to fix the inaccuracies of it all,” he said.

Ms Young says one way the council could lower its rates into the future is simply to freeze them into becoming comparatively cheaper over time.

Ultimately, advocates like Mrs Young and locals like Mr Bush only want one thing - state-wide laws, set by the state, to ensure fair rate across the board.

Bundaberg Regional Council CEO Steve Johnston said the council had followed state guidelines when making decisions on rates.

“The Queensland Government has developed these guidelines which apply to every council in Queensland,” he said.

“Bundaberg Regional Council’s Revenue Policy outlines the principles it applies in setting the rates, which aligns with this guideline.”