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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-10-15 Daily Xml
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ASSET SUSTAINABILITY LEVY

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:20): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Leader of Government Business in the house and many other things, a question about asset sustainability levies.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: On Thursday 4 July 2013 in this place, I asked the minister questions about an outback community and some of the latter questions I asked related to the asset sustainability levy (ASL). I understand that this levy is intended to pay for the maintenance of airstrips and water infrastructure by way of cost contribution from all people living in the Outback Communities Authority area from the Far West to the Far North and Far North-East.

On 4 July the minister went through a host of matters relating to my earlier questions about that outback community. She did, to be fair, put on record that she would come back to parliament with answers to the ASL questions. I ask these questions again today because I am concerned that there is very little being said about this levy and I am very concerned that it will be another impost on outback communities. With that overview, my questions to the minister—the same as I asked on 4 July 2013—are:

1. Where is the planning and implementation up to on the OCA-wide ASL?

2. How much is the ASL expected to be in total revenue per annum and per landholding in the Outback Communities Authority area?

3. What consultation is underway, or will be underway for that levy?

4. What are the asset sites that will be funded via that levy?

5. What are the annual maintenance costs of those sites?

6. Does the ASL have any precedent in other states or the Northern Territory's outback areas and, if so, what is the structure of their ASL arrangements?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (15:22): I thank the honourable member for his most important questions. When I was the former minister for state/local government relations, I was the minister responsible for developing the legislation to make changes to the outback community trust that gave them powers to derive levies from their communities and there were two levels of levies. One was the asset sustainability levy (the ASL) and the other one was the community levy.

The asset sustainability levy was put in place to enable revenues to be gained to put towards general infrastructure throughout the outback areas which, generally, most people would be able to benefit from or enjoy and that would improve access and amenity to the outback. That was a levy, as the Hon. Robert Brokenshire mentioned, to be applied generally throughout the outback and for residents to contribute in some way to that.

The community levy was a levy that required the local communities themselves to apply that levy, so extensive consultation needs to occur for the community to endorse or approve the application of that levy, and it was generally a levy that would apply to amenities or services that could be enjoyed or benefited by mainly that community—for instance, a swimming pool, a tennis court, or something like that. We have seen that Andamooka has wanted that levy applied and, through I think almost a year or more of consultation, has worked out what they wanted to pay. There is a process for them to determine what that is to be spent on, and that has been very successful.

In terms of the asset sustainability levy, the outback community trust decided, if I recall—and I will come back if I have left out any detail or if any of these details are incorrect—that it did need extensive consultation; number one, on assisting feedback from outback communities on what they saw were priorities for spending that levy on. So basically the community was to be consulted in terms of determining what that might be, and then of course determining what that amount would be. That work has been very slow to progress.

The work so far has been around the application of the community levy. That was very much needed and sought after by particularly the Andamooka community, and I think there are a couple of other communities that are seeking to do similar things. So the Outback Communities Authority is really busy applying that to communities that have indicated they want it, and it will continue with the work around the asset sustainability levy later.

I recently met with Cecilia Woolford, the current chair of the committee, and I recall that she indicated they would be looking to have that asset levy rolled out by mid-next year and spending considerable time consulting prior to that. That really is a matter for the Outback Communities Authority to determine. I respect that they are very closely in touch with their communities and, if they have indicated that work needs to be done on the community levy first, then I am happy that they do that. They are levies to assist outback communities to grow and develop. We obviously do not want them to be seen as some sort of impost, so considerable consultation and advice will be sought from those communities.

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