Libertarian Party announces plans to turn Broken Hill into Las Vegas through Special Economic Zones
A fringe political party wants to turn Broken Hill into Australia’s own version of Las Vegas, by scrapping booze and gambling taxes to create a tourism hub for “high-rollers, partygoers and big spenders” like Donald Trump.
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A fringe political party hoping to knock the major parties from multiple seats this federal election wants to turn Broken Hill into Australia’s Las Vegas, by scrapping booze and gambling taxes to create a tourism hub for “high-rollers, partygoers and big spenders”.
In its pitch to regional voters, the Libertarian Party has announced the mining town of Broken Hill would become a “Las Vegas style entertainment boom town” if exempt from tax laws.
The plans, unveiled by Upper House Libertarian MP John Ruddick on Tuesday, would start with Broken Hill and make way for the establishment of more “Special Economic Zones” across regional Australia.
Mr Ruddick said the areas would be modelled on “Free Zones” in the United Arab Emirates, which have “helped convert empty deserts into booming cities with millions of people earning high incomes” through policies such as tax exemptions, full foreign ownership and duty-free operation to lure overseas investors.
“Regional Australia has great untapped potential if we can just get big government out of the way,” Mr Ruddick said.
“Nobody in the US is required to visit Las Vegas, but it is a credit to the US system that such a city was able to grow out of the wasteland of the Nevada desert, and there is no reason that Australia couldn’t have something similar.”
Local councils would be given greater control to reduce or abolish liquor and gambling taxes, payroll tax, land tax and stamp duty to entice the likes of Donald Trump.
The opportunity to become a “Free Zone” would be extended to councils outside capital cities, allowing them to “set many of the policies and regulations currently set by the state and federal governments”.
However, Mr Ruddick was murky on the details, saying councils would have to prove their economic hardship to qualify for a zone, then negotiate their “degree of autonomy” with both levels of governments to cherry pick which laws and regulations would be handed over.
Broken Hill Deputy Mayor Jim Hickey said he didn’t think there would be any opposition to the sky-high plans on a local level, amid tough times for rural economies.
“Our secondary industry (after mining) is tourism and 300,000 tourists visit every year, we would welcome more than that, it would keep people busy,” he said.
“I think there should be different rules (in country areas) and we should run our own race. “[So] I don’t think there would be any opposition at all, very little at all, we had Priscilla Queen of the Desert out here and that was quite good, and the people of Broken Hill accepted it.”
But fellow Broken Hill councillor Michael Boland, who is also the chief executive officer of a local club, questioned whether the heritage-listed town was the right place for a flashy entertainment precinct.
“I don’t know if it would work in a town like Broken Hill, we would never not back investment … but it’s the wrong location and wrong country, we have a different culture to the US and our tourism market is based on adventure tourism, to see the red dirt, to (camp in the outback)” he said.
“Being a heritage listed city as well, we don’t want to take away from that – there’s no neon lights seen within miles of Broken Hill.”
The policy could only come to fruition if the Libertarians were to win seats at this election.
The state and federal government were both approached for comment but did not respond before deadline.
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