Yarra councillor tells residents to check their privilege over proposed bin tax from yacht

A City of Yarra councillor has told residents to check their privilege over a proposed “modest” bin tax while sailing a yacht.

City of Yarra councillor Herschel Landes (right) has drawn fire for a tone deaf Facebook post. Picture: Jarrod Barnes.

A City of Yarra councillor has come under fire for talking about privilege and the “modest” bin tax being planned for residents while sitting on a yacht.

Independent Herschel Landes posted on his Facebook page a photo of him with a friend sailing on a boat.

“So nice to forget about waste charges for an hour,’’ Cr Landes said.

“It is difficult to understand how privilege and self interest is dominating the debate over a modest sum of money.’’

Herschel Landes says South Yarra’s proposed bin tax is “modest”. Facebook

Residents said Cr Landes’s post was tone-deaf and lacking self-awareness, given how so many families were struggling with the cost of living.

“That’s madness,’’ one resident told the Herald Sun.

Richmond ratepayer Theresa Saldanha said she was disappointed by the post.

“How out of touch can you be with the challenges facing residents?,” she said.

“It would be nice to go out on the bay and avoid the overflowing bins of Richmond.’’

Cr Landes, former head of the Bridge Rd Traders Association, said he had received more than 100 emails from residents “confused by the misleading information they have received in their letter boxes’’.

He said the waste levy plan was fairer because it would mean the 18,000 properties who have private waste collection won’t have to pay, so collection costs would be redistributed to the 40,000 properties that have council pick-ups.

“Have we really come to a point when the collective interest for maintaining a clean and safe city and sustainable waste program cannot be more fairly distributed?’’ he said.

Herschel Landes opposed a bin tax in 2017. Picture: Kylie Else

Cr Landes, elected in 2020, was a leading opponent of the previous bin tax proposal in 2017, but now seems likely to support the plan, to be considered on Tuesday.

Households will have to pay up to $115 a year for the waste levy, if approved, but some will their rates reduced.

But the charge would be listed outside the rate cap, allowing for unchecked increases in the future.

The controversy comes Yarra council warned about a “spread of misinformation’, prompting one councillor to hit back and accuse Town Hall of propaganda.

Yarra issued a statement asking the community to “rely on the facts provided by council as a reliable source of information’’.

“We are aware of the spread of misinformation including recent reports on A Current Affair and The Today Show,’’ the statement said.

Independent councillor Stephen Jolly said the media release showed bias on the bin tax issue even before council had voted.

“Yarra’s media unit is fast becoming a political tool for senior management,’’ Cr Jolly said.

The council also insisted the proposed waste levy was not a new tax, but a separation from household rates, yet acknowledged it would appear as a new item on rates bills.