WE are entering the home stretch of our RateGate campaign petition, so there’s a fair chance you will be hearing and seeing a lot of us over the next couple of weeks.
Almost 1200 people have already signed the online petition, which closes in just under two weeks, and this week we hit the road to take it to some of the more remote towns in the Mildura electorate.
There will be pop-up petition stalls around Mildura in the next two weeks as we step up our efforts to get as many people to support our campaign as possible – to help our efforts in lobbying the Victorian Government to make meaningful change to the inequitable rates system in our state.
At its February 23 meeting, Swan Hill Rural City Council resolved to provide in-principle support to the campaign, with council chief executive John McLinden writing to me saying: “Council recognises that there are inherent inequities in the rating system and believes that the State Government has missed a golden opportunity to address the issues embodied within the structure of Victoria’s current rating system.”
I am hopeful other rural and regional councils, including Mildura Rural City Council, will also make official resolutions to endorse RateGate.
The feedback and support I have received since kicking off the campaign just after Christmas – from right around the electorate – has been overwhelming.
It is clear the vast majority of home owners in the Mildura electorate are fed up with having to pay two or three times the rates of their metropolitan Melbourne counterparts despite there being stark differences in property values.
Minister for Local Government Shaun Leane has publicly said the Victorian Government is serious about tackling this issue, so it is important we do everything we can to have our voices heard.
I am planning on having a delegation from our regional stakeholder engagement team present the petition to Mr Leane in Melbourne before it is tabled in Parliament.
So keep an eye out over the next couple of weeks for our pop-up petition stalls and make sure to add your support for this important campaign.
