The Queensland Government has bowed to relentless lobbying from the property and agricultural industry groups against its land valuation bill and delayed debate on the contoversial legislation for two weeks.
But according to The Australian Financial Review, Natural Resources Minister Stephen Robertson has said that unless the industry can provide specific examples where its members would be worse off, the new scheme would go ahead.
He also ruled out deferring land valuations for a year, with the failure to amend the legislation likely to cost the government $300 million in land tax and $600m in council rates.
"This is not a tax grab. This is about protecting existing revenue streams," he said. "What's at stake here is millions of dollars and we need them to stop running a scare campaign and provide the commercial realities of the values of these properties. They haven't done this so far."
Email a friend