(Photo: Anne Logan)
November 26, 2014
A natural disaster in the South Burnett could force rates up by more than 20 per cent if a Productivity Commission proposal to cut the Federal Government’s natural disaster funding succeeds.
Mayor Wayne Kratzmann said today the proposed cuts were “un-Australian”.
He urged all councillors and the community to make submissions to their Federal Member about the importance of maintaining existing arrangements.
Mayor Kratzmann said Local Government Minister David Crisafulli had recently advised Council the Productivity Commission Inquiry into Natural Disaster Funding Arrangements had released a draft report which – if implemented – would have a disastrous effect on Queensland communities.
The draft report proposes reducing the current level of Commonwealth natural disaster funding by one-third, from 75 to 50 per cent.
It would also increase the threshold level for funding support almost nine-fold.
The increase in the small disaster criterion would see the threshold rise from $240,000 to $2 million per event, which would have severe impacts on local councils.
At today’s Council meeting, the Mayor said if the proposal went ahead and the region was hit with another natural disaster such as the 2011 or 2013 floods, rates would need to rise by more than 20 per cent to make up the shortfall.
“This would be a cost our ratepayers simply cannot afford – the implications would be diabolical,” he said.
The Mayor said the push for reductions in disaster funding had largely come from the Victorian and NSW State Governments who resented the amount of disaster funding spent on Queensland in the past few years.
But he said recovery from natural disasters was one of the Commonwealth’s national obligations and the Federal Government shouldn’t try to shirk it.
The full report is available on the Productivity Commission’s website
- Related article: Mayor Says Disaster Funding Cuts ‘A Disgrace’
