Tuesday 27th June 2017
Strong opposition from the Liberal-Nationals in the Victorian Parliament has resulted in the Andrews Labor Government abandoning unpopular plans to centralise Victorian property valuations to the Valuer-General’s office in Melbourne.
Leader of The Nationals and Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh said an amendment to remove Part 9 of the State Taxation Acts Amendment Bill 2017 was passed in the Legislative Council last week.
Mr Walsh said this section would have forced all councils across the state to use property valuations from the Valuer-General’s office rather than use local expertise with in-house council-based valuers as has been done successfully for many years.
“The proposed changes also meant that valuations would have been made every year rather than the current two year.
“This move would have created an increase in council costs and a loss of jobs and would have resulted in a centralized control of valuations in the heart of the city “ Mr Walsh said.
“Effectively there was very little benefit in it for country Victorians but there was a huge benefit for the state government because it would be able to capture the increases in property values quicker.”
Mr Walsh applauded the outcome from the Legislative Council as a great win for ratepayers and an embarrassing back-down for the Andrews Labor Government.
“˜The public of Victoria particularly country Victoria are just over Daniel Andrews.
“In this state we have a Premier for Melbourne and we have a government for Melbourne.”