A PETITION, a delegation to Melbourne and a stakeholder action team are among the key measures in a new campaign by Member for Mildura Ali Cupper to highlight the “unfair” rates system in Victoria.
Ms Cupper will on Saturday launch RateGate, which will engage the community as she continues her push for the Victorian Government to introduce structural reform to address the “scandalous” disparity between the sizes of regional and metropolitan rates.
“We want to engage as many people as possible in this campaign so that the government can be in no doubt as to how unfair and inequitable the current system is,” she said.
“As we learned with the hospital campaign, governments take notice when communities are strong and united.”
The Regional Stakeholder Engagement Team (ReSET) will include representatives from the four councils in the Mildura electorate as well as business, industry and community representatives.
“A petition has also been launched asking the government to take action to address the imbalance in the capacity of rural councils to service their communities and lessening the sustainable difference between rural and metropolitan councils,” Ms Cupper said.
“I would urge everyone to get on board and have their say by signing the petition.
“We will be planning to bring a delegation to Melbourne to present the petition to the government.”
Ms Cupper’s push for rate reform is the first order of business for her new coalition with Reason Party leader Fiona Patten.
“The Reason Coalition gives us the ability, through Fiona in the Legislative Council, to table the online petition in the Upper House,” Ms Cupper said.
Ms Patten and Ms Cupper met Minister for Local Government Shaun Leane this week to discuss the issue.
“It was a very positive meeting and there’s no doubt the government is well aware of the inequities of the current system – and is looking for ways to fix them,” Ms Cupper said.
To sign the petition, go to parliament.vic.gov.au/council/petitions/electronic-petitions/view-e-petitions/details/12/303.
