It is a difficult decision that the Victorians are to make, as both major party are presenting hot air and spin leaving little choice. The Bracks government has proven they are incapable of power and the liberals have proven this when last in power. And the state debt keeps rising with dictatorial policies by both parties, a difficult time is ahead. Then there is always the Independants who could pull them into gear by holding the balance of power .. It's Your Choice !!
Building a new home will be $8000 dearer, as a new development tax is slapped on all new homes in Victoria.
A new congestion tax also starts in Melbourne on January 1.
Operators of commercial car parks in the inner city will be required to pay a $400 annual levy a car space, which will increase to $800 by 2007, in a bid to tackle traffic congestion.
We will remember this at election time
BRITAIN's leading athletics coach has told his track and field stars the Commonwealth Games are a second-rate meet and that their focus instead should be on the European Championships next August.
And UK Athletics' performance director Dave Collins is not even planning to come to Melbourne in March, and has threatened to cut the funding of any athlete who doesn't perform at the European titles.
The British snub of the Games that evolved from their own Empire Games and which are always opened by the Queen or a representative from the royal family has shocked Melbourne's Commonwealth Games organisers.
Tony Lester, the coach of several of Britain's leading medal prospects, says a Melbourne medal haul will not compensate for failure at the European Championships.
"If they go to the Commonwealth Games and win but then flunk at the Europeans, that's no good," he said.
English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish hopefuls are being told that their results in Gothenburg, Sweden, at the European Championships from August 7-13 will be the catalyst in deciding whether they have a future in the sport.
Lester says it is the results in Gothenburg rather than Melbourne that will determine who secures the lottery funding so important in allowing British athletes to train fulltime.
Collins, who has the fingers on the purse strings, has raised the stakes by threatening that he will cut the financial lifeline to those elite athletes who don't deliver the goods in Sweden
THE Bracks Government secretly compensated the developers of the Commonwealth Games athletes' village after insisting that unionised labour be used to build the project, industry sources have told The Weekend Australian.
With the Victorian Auditor-General poised to release a report on the $150million project, sources claim a $55million premium was paid to the Village Park Consortium for the added costs of using the union workforce. The sources say the costs were incurred because 155 houses had to be built using building union members, rather than non-union housing subcontractors, under a government-brokered memorandum of understanding.
One source said Bracks government officials agreed to the price premium in planning meetings with the developers and discussed concealing it: "They (the officials) were laughing and saying we will hide it."
A former Melbourne lord mayor says the public has an opportunity today to see how taxpayer money is being wasted on the Commonwealth Games.
However, Kevin Chamberlain from the Protectors of Public Lands group says visitors should also think about the cost of the Games.
The Bracks Government has spent $2 billion on the Commonwealth Games, so that when they find their public transport systems failing them, their schools in disrepair or their hospitals in disrepair, they'll at least say 'well, $2 billion should have at least been spent here'," he said.
"The problems today at the Commonwealth Games village will just be indicative of the problems the permanent residents will face into the future - traffic, no public transport, no community infrastructure, an isolated part of Melbourne," he said.
Wednesday, 7 December, 2005
‘WATER WALLY’ THWAITES IS UNSUSTAINABLE: NATS
The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) has overspent its budget by $500,000 a day for the last three years; soaked up an extra 13% in water use; and consumed 6.5% more electricity, according to Leader of The Nationals Peter Ryan.
Mr Ryan said the DSE Annual Report had demonstrated that Environment Minister John Thwaites had failed to deliver on his own rhetoric.
“The Deputy Premier and Minister for Environment likes to talk a lot about saving water and sustainable energy use but once again we have a Melbourne Labor Minister who can’t deliver within his own Department,” Mr Ryan said.
“At the same time as the Minister is preaching about water savings, his own Department has increased its water consumption by 12.8%.
“DSE has overspent its budget by a total of $644 million for the past three years – that’s a $500,000 per day budget blowout.
“A Melbourne Labor Government is simply not economically or environmentally sustainable.”
Mr Ryan said the budget blowouts were being hidden from the community because the government was receiving record levels of revenue from stamp duty, land tax, police fines, GST returns and fees which were increased on an annual basis.
“Victorian taxpayers are providing $36 billion per year – or $100 million a day – to a government that has failed to stick to its own budget every year,” Mr Ryan said.
“DSE is just one of many government departments which has overspent its budget and been bailed out by the taxpayers.
“Victoria has become the ‘best place to tax a family’ as Steve Bracks takes more of our money than any Premier in Victoria’s history.
“The Bracks Government has introduced a new water tax; parking congestion tax; development tax; and every department has increased fees in line with the government’s cost recovery policy.
“While Victorians are being subjected to excessive taxes, levies and fees the Government is wasting millions of dollars on blatant political advertising.
“There is one year to go to the next election and the Nationals are focused on holding the government to account while advancing the interests of country Victorians.”
THE Bracks Government was yesterday accused of stashing a $795 million surplus in its coffers at a time it would not spare the cash to help feed seriously ill children.
But he said Victorians weren't getting the services they deserved.
"Victorians are rightly appalled at the increases that are being imposed on them by the Government in just about every aspect of their lives," he said.
"This is taxing some of the most vulnerable people in the community -- there's not much compassion in slugging seriously ill children."
The Government announced a $795 million surplus last month,
$266 million more than Treasurer John Brumby had forecast.
Yesterday the Herald Sun revealed plans to charge families of sick children up to $1560 a year to be fed through lifesaving tubes.
This year the Government expects to reap billions from land tax, stamp duty and gaming.
Taxpayers Australia yesterday criticised the Government for grabbing cash while failing to deliver on key services such as health and education.
National director Peter McDonald said Victorians should be given tax cuts or the extra money should be pumped into schools and hospitals.
"Government is there to collect tax to actually provide services to the people they represent, making surpluses just for the sake of it is extremely out of character with that primary role that they have," he said.
It should never have been collected in the first place, and since it has been collected it should go to worthwhile purposes."
A spokeswoman for Mr Brumby, Campbel Giles, yesterday said the food charge, which was dumped yesterday after public pressure, was not part of the Government's policy of indexing fees.
She said the Bracks Government had cut taxes across the board, and the state economy had increased by 53.1 per cent while state tax revenue was up by 16.7 per cent.
In recent months the Government has also been criticised by the Opposition and community groups for paying hundreds of millions of dollars for consultants, art projects and parties.
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