Opposition Leader Mark McGowan questions the Minister for Planning, John Day, about the lack of pre-election disclosure regarding the Metropolitan Region Improvement Tax and its expected revenue. The Minister denies a pre-election decision and defends the tax as necessary for long-term planning and conservation.

AnsweredQoN 577Legislative Assembly
Asked
19 August 2014
Portfolio
Planning

QuestionView source ↗

METROPOLITAN
REGION IMPROVEMENT TAX
577. Mr M. McGOWAN to the
Minister for Planning:
I have a supplementary question. Why did the minister not
advise the people of regional Western Australia before the last state election
that he would be applying a new tax to them during this term of government and
how much does the minister expect to raise from the imposition of this new tax
in the first financial year?

AnswerView source ↗

The opportunism, short-sightedness and very short-term
thinking of the Leader of the Opposition is again —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Members!
Mr J.H.D. DAY : We
had not made a decision prior to the last election to do anything of this
nature at all. It was put out in a discussion paper about 12 months ago. It was
broadly supported in the responses that came in from submissions on that
discussion paper. It is clear in the document that I put out last week
entitled, ''Planning makes it happen: phase two—Blueprint for
planning reform August 2014''. Members of the property industry, the
local government sector and the wider community understand the rationale and
the need for a better system than the one we have at the moment. It is time
that the opposition started thinking about the longer-term future of Western
Australia and about how high-conservation bushland, apart from other areas, can
be purchased.

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