The 'three Wise Monkeys' Have Nothing On Queensland Councils

The "Three Wise Monkeys" Have Nothing on Queensland Councils

The Property Council expressed its disappointment today at the ongoing refusal by Councils to acknowledge the impact that their infrastructure charges are having on housing affordability in Queensland.

Executive Director of the Queensland Division of the Property Council of Australia, Steve Greenwood, said that, "It is very disappointing to read of the latest report undertaken by Queensland Councils into the impact that their infrastructure charges are having on housing affordability in Queensland.

"The report appears to be another misguided attempt by Councils to justify the large impact that their
infrastructure charges are having on the price of houses in Queensland.

"Their approach seems somewhat surprising ? they detail their high charges and then attempt to justify them
using the argument that ?a few Councils in other States have high charges, so ours are OK'.

"Unfortunately, the Councils appear to be ignoring the facts:

1. In the last 10 years, new houses in Queensland have become increasingly
unaffordable;
2. These high house prices have occurred at the same time that infrastructure
charges were introduced;
3. Each time infrastructure charges go up, so do new house prices;
4. Infrastructure charges now form a very large part of the cost of a new house
in Queensland;

"These are the facts, plain and simple - no amount of obscuration by Councils can hide them.

"Councils can use up more of their ratepayers money on ?independent? reports trying to justify their increasing taxes on new home buyers ? or they can constructively begin to address the housing affordability problem in Queensland.

"As the responsible third level of Government that they claim to be, I would expect Councils to helpfully work towards developing infrastructure financing alternatives that aim to reduce the tax burden on new home buyers.

"Sitting back with their hands over their eyes, ears and mouths, like the famous 'three wise monkeys' of Japanese philosophy - blaming everyone except themselves is simply not good enough - local communities expect much better from their Councils.

"Introducing a subsidy on infrastructure charge would be a good first step - this would go a long way to helping new home buyers in Queensland", Mr Greenwood said.

Reference: Three Wise Monkeys - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_wise_monkeys

Media enquiries:
Steve Greenwood,
Executive Director - (07) 3225 3000 or 0488 721 156


SOURCE: Property Council of Australia (QLD)