TRANSCRIPT:
I also rise today to speak on the State Taxation Acts Amendment Bill 2025, a sprawling piece of legislation that tinkers with nearly every core taxation law we have in Victoria. The acts being amended include the Commercial and Industrial Property Tax Reform Act 2024, the Duties Act 2000, the First Home Owner Grant and Home Buyer Schemes Act 2000, the Land Tax Act 2005, the Payroll Tax Act 2007, the Taxation Administration Act 1997, the Unclaimed Money Act 2008 and the Victorian Conservation Trust Act 1972.
It is quite a list, and if you were paying attention to the recent budget you will know why: the Allan Labor government never misses a chance to invent or expand a tax. It is their favourite lever, because heaven forbid they look at trimming bureaucratic bloat or reining in wasteful spending. As the many, many comments on social media have said recently, this government will tax us for breathing soon.
This bill on its surface makes a number of administrative and compliance changes. We are told it is about clarity and streamlining, but buried within these policies are real and often painful consequences for ordinary Victorians. Yes, it tightens enforcement by introducing a new penalty tax rate for reckless noncompliance, because the assumption again is that taxpayers must be doing something wrong. The most significant and perhaps well intentioned part of this is the land tax exemption aimed at supporting victims of family violence. This is absolutely a step in the right direction, and any legislative action that helps people in crisis deserves credit. But there are some serious flaws. These changes will not apply retrospectively, which means countless victims navigating complicated tax debts – debts that stem directly from abuse and trauma – will not receive the help they need. And if those individuals have had to lease their property just to survive, they are punished. The government has decided that receiving rent means you are no longer entitled to the exemption no matter your situation, and I think that is wrong.
In the Legal and Social Issues Committee’s recent inquiry building the evidence base on people who use family violence we made 61 recommendations, and we need this government to act on those and not just tick a legislative box with incomplete solutions, because on the ground in my electorate the situation is dire. In Benalla, a town where the rate of family violence is 71 per cent higher than the state average, this government, the Allan Labor government, shut down the community services hub earlier this year and then had the audacity to gaslight my community and say that it never existed. The hub is gone, and the hub included 12 critical agencies like Beyond Housing, the Centre Against Violence and the Orange Door, and these were lifelines. We have communities like Euroa, Broadford, Seymour and Heathcote where services are virtually non-existent and demand is out of control. The land tax exemptions may look good on a press release, but they mean nothing if people in danger across the state cannot access the services that they need to begin with.
On the broader issue of land tax, in 2024 alone 1763 landowners in Mitchell shire were hit with these increases and nearly 500 in both Strathbogie and Benalla. These are not big landholders; these are people living on blocks they have worked for their whole lives, and many of them are being taxed incorrectly. In Avenel Matthew Trewin is still trying to convince the State Revenue Office that his land is primary production. He has done nothing wrong; he is just stuck in the gears of a broken system under the Allan Labor government. For the Giannarelli family of Seymour and David Russell in Benalla it is the same situation. David received a bill for land tax on the home he lives in. He sent rates notices, power bills and water bills proving it was his residence, and after months of waiting for the exemption to be confirmed the SRO sent debt collection letters. It was just heartless, and it is really pushing people to the brink. This is what happens when the Allan Labor government looks at Victorians like their own ATM and not people. And it gets worse: if you operate a small business from your home – a garage or a studio or a home office – you then lose your primary place of residence. If the home is held in a family trust, forget it – the system assumes you are a developer and not someone trying to run a business and pay the mortgage. It is out of step with how people live and work today, especially in regional areas, where mixed-use properties are a necessity and not a luxury.
This is not about fairness, this is about revenue, and it comes at a time when people in Kilmore, Broadford, Euroa and Benalla, as well as Seymour, are all at financial breaking point. Cost-of-living pressures are through the roof, fuel prices are up, power prices are skyrocketing and water charges are rising, and now families are getting land tax bills on top of all of this.
Many are still trying to recover from floods, fires and droughts. I do want to acknowledge the member for Brighton’s amendment and support him to allow an exemption from land tax for people who have experienced natural disasters. I know in my community people are still out of their homes and receiving land tax bills after enduring the October 2022 floods. It is heartless. We need to have some understanding about how these taxes impact everyday Victorians, and the government has to acknowledge that they need to be here to help, not hinder and certainly not hurt Victorians. This bill also amends the payroll tax, and again it is about compliance and not compassion. There is no relief here for small businesses, just more red tape.
While we are speaking about the relentless tax burden on our communities, I want to turn to one of the most pressing issues facing my electorate – facing families, businesses and communities – and that is the worsening drought conditions across central and north-east Victoria. I recently launched a petition to call on the Victorian government to formally declare drought across the region. In just one week I have had more than 5500 people sign that petition – most of them are farmers. They are proud, hardworking people who do not ask for handouts but are desperate for a fair go. They are running out of options. The paddocks are bare, our dams are dry, and the cost of transporting hay and water is astronomical. These are not poor-season stories; these are stories of desperation. I have stood with families who have had to destock herds built over several generations. I have seen the emotional toll of watching crops fail again and again, and the sheer exhaustion of working 20-hour days just to stay afloat. They need breathing space. They need acknowledgement. They certainly do not need to be hit with an emergency services tax that quadruples their property rates overnight, and that is exactly what is happening.
While this government refuses to declare a drought, they have no issue with sending out the emergency services tax bill and treating productive farmland like it is a Melbourne development site. This is what I mean when I say you are punishing people who are already suffering. When a family’s entire livelihood is tied to the land and the land gives them nothing back, the last thing they need is a tax notice in the mail charging them thousands of dollars to protect that land. It is gut-wrenching and it is unfair, and it is exactly why we are fighting for a drought declaration, not just for the emotional and moral recognition but because it could provide the key to real and practical relief. In some cases this drought declaration can allow us to access emergency grants, low-interest loans and rebates. But most importantly, it is an exemption from this brutal emergency services and volunteers tax. This levy is not about services, it is about revenue. It is about filling Labor’s budget black hole. If this government genuinely want to support regional communities, then they should start by acknowledging the drought right in front of them. By doing so, it might make some of their tax grabs a little harder to justify.
The Allan Labor government cannot ignore the 5500 small business owners, residents and farmers who are asking and begging for some support. Do not pretend the conditions are not that bad. We are on our knees in regional Victoria. I do support the member for Brighton’s amendment to allow the exemption from land tax for people who have experienced natural disasters. We are sick of being the cash cow for the Allan Labor government who cannot manage money. They cannot manage our emergency services, and regional Victorians, particularly farmers in my community, are paying the price.