‘Outrageous’: Qld ratepayers slugged for botox regulation
South East Queensland councils have accused the government of shunning its responsibly in regulating the beauty industry, leaving local areas and ratepayers to bear the burden and cost.
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South East Queensland councils have accused the government of shirking responsibly in regulating the beauty industry with their already tight resources.
Brisbane, Moreton Bay, and Gold Coast councils have all decried the Queensland government for ‘forcing’ onto them the responsibility of licensing Botox, skin needling and filler services.
They say on top of their responsibilities relating to rates, roads and rubbish the additional cost of regulating cosmetic clinics would be felt by ratepayers.
Brisbane City Council Civic Cabinet Chair Sarah Hutton said this was just the latest example of ‘outrageous’ cost shifting and ‘responsibility shunning’ by the State and Federal governments onto councils.
“Forget roads, rates and rubbish, your local council is now being saddled with licencing Botox, skin needling and filler services,” she said.
“Residents want their rates invested in repairing roads and collecting rubbish not paying Council employees to inspect Botox businesses.”
Previously, cosmetic businesses would not have required a licence if they complied with infection control guidelines.
But with the introduction of new licencing requirements, hundreds of Brisbane businesses will feel the pinch.
City of Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said he was disappointed by the governments move and accused them of cost shifting.
“Ratepayers will again have to cover the cost unless the State can come to the party,” he said.
Moreton Bay Mayor Peter Flannery said Queensland Health was imposing the state’s responsibilities onto local governments.
“While the full cost of these changes is hard to predict it will come at a cost to rate payers and require significant resourcing by the City of Moreton Bay,” he said.
“This is cost-shifting gone mad. Once again, Councils are being forced to step in to cover the State’s responsibilities.”
Logan Mayor Jon Raven said he understood why councils could be trusted to ensure safety at injecting clinics, but costs must be considered.
“Fundamentally people want to feel safe when they visit an injectables or Botox clinic. Our community sees Council as a trusted regulator to manage food safety,” he said.
“It makes sense that they would want Council to do the same for the beauty industry, as long as we can recoup those costs from the State Government or the businesses requiring licenses.”
Chief executive officer of the Local Government Association of Queensland Alison Smith said government cost shifting meant Queensland councils were already at a tipping point when it came to providing the core services their communities rightly expect.
“In January the LGAQ released a landmark report outlining a 378 per cent increase in cost shifting to local government over the last 20 years, which is conservatively leaving councils with a $360 million bill each year,” she said.
“We are still waiting for a response from the State Government about our report and how it plans to address cost shifting instead of keeping on racking up the tab to councils.”
Last year Queensland Health released a consultation paper on the Food Act 2006, growing the list of foisted responsibilities to local Councils.
These changes would see Council regulating an additional 1600 facilities including correctional facilities, schools, parliamentary food services and hospitals, which are currently exempt from the Act.
According to Brisbane City Council examples of cost shifting to local governments include:
•Our Council has been funding 65 per cent of the cost of delivering childhood vaccinations
•The State Government legislating away responsibility for management of fire ants on Council land
•The State Government increasing the compensation for collecting the State’s Emergency Management Levy by 10 per cent since 2005, despite inflation rising 67 per cent over the same time
•Council having to clean up suburban meth labs after police shut them down
•Managing infection control for tattooing and body piercings
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