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Victoria’s agricultural industries are set to be the hardest hit by the Brumby Government’s latest tax grab, Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Deputy Leader of The Nationals Peter Walsh said today.
Mr Walsh said from mid-2011 exporters would be hit with a $180 surcharge for every truck that entered the Port of Melbourne’s Swanson Dock.
“This unfair and discriminatory new tax is on top of wharfage and channel deepening charges and will raise an extra $1 billion a year for consolidated revenue,” Mr Walsh said.
“The majority of this revenue will come straight from the pockets of the state’s farmers.
“Victoria’s food and fibre producers are only just emerging from a decade of drought, and already the Brumby Government is milking them for all they are worth.
“Last financial year, 1.8 million containers were exported from Melbourne, with agricultural products, including cereal grains, dairy products, fruit and vegetables and stockfeed among the top ten containerised commodity exports.
“As the largest container exporter from the Port of Melbourne, Murray Goulburn will be forced to fork out more than $2 million, on top of other port fees, to pay this tax each year.”
Mr Walsh said most producers and freight operators would accept the charge if it was being used to improve freight routes and restore the ailing rail freight network.
“The government has already signalled its intention to funnel the money raised from this tax into consolidated revenue where it can be used to shore up John Brumby’s slush fund,” Mr Walsh said.
“Labor’s logic is simply ludicrous and this tax will seriously weaken Victoria’s competitiveness as an exporter.
“Food and fibre producers are the backbone of this state’s economy. Last year they exported $6.7 billion worth of product.
“Instead of strengthening the state’s economic base by assisting food and fibre producers, John Brumby wants to use them as cash cows, making them contribute another $1 billion a year to consolidated revenue,” Mr Walsh said.