February 26, 2010
The Property Council of Australia has developed a detailed response to the Queensland Government’s claims regarding the purpose, scope and impact of the proposed changes to Queensland’s valuation system.
Property Council of Australia Queensland Executive Director Steve Greenwood (pictured) says it is important a fully informed public debate occurs on the Valuation of Land and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2010 as it will impact on every Queensland investor and business.
“Since the Bill was tabled in Parliament on the 11th of February, the government has made a number of claims in relation to legislation reinstating the law which was changed by the Court Of Appeal in the Pacific Fair Case,” Greenwood says.
“We have gone through each of these claims in detail and have found that none of them stand up to informed scrutiny,” he says.
“For example, the Government has claimed that the legislation needs be retrospective to protect past valuations and $600 million in rates already collected by councils.”
According to Greenwood, this claim is “absolutely false”.
“Our legal advice is clear - there in no avenue to revisit past valuations that were not disputed or were settled through the objection/appeal process,” he says.
“In any case, the government could easily overcome this concern by enacting a simple amendment to the effect that past valuations not currently subject to the objection/appeal process cannot be challenged.
“If you take this approach, council’s total rate liability is no more than $10 million and property owners have said they would be willing to accept repayment via offsets on future rates bills, meaning that councils would not need to stump up their debt immediately.”
The Government’s claims that the legislation will only affect the ‘big end of town’ are also misleading, according to the Property Council.
“Again this claim is false. Nowhere in the legislation does it make reference to big business, shopping centres, large commercial or industrial properties,” Greenwood says.
“The principles outlined in this legislation can be applied as easily to a unit, small business, house or farm as they can to Australia’s largest shopping centres. In fact, these principles are required to be applied to all classes of land,” he says.
“That is why we have published our ‘Response to the Queensland Government’s Claims’, to ensure there is widespread understanding of the real implications of this Bill.”
In wake of recent events, the Property Council has also established a dedicated public website to provide information on the proposed changes to Queensland’s valuation system.