Beverley McArthur MP
Member for Western Victoria Region
Media Statement
LOCAL GOVERNMENT IMPORTANT THIRD TIER OF GOVERNMENT
Member for Western Victoria Region, Bev McArthur used an opportunity in the Parliament to comment on her recent productive visits to various municipalities in her vast electorate of Western Victoria.
She thanked the Councillors, Administrators and professional staff for recent informative briefings she had had with Central Goldfields Shire, the Ararat Rural City Council, Ballarat City Council and the Pyrenees Shire Council.
Mrs McArthur noted the wide variety of issues raised including ‘local road funding, tourism issues and opportunities, waste to energy production, worker shortages, regulatory burdens and the cost shifting debacle being imposed by the State Government’.
However, she said that the ‘common theme underpinning all meetings was the need for a fundamental change in the local government funding model.’ Clearly this ‘archaic property tax system is no longer equitable or viable as the primary revenue stream of local government revenue.’
Mrs McArthur said she ‘looked forward to progressing her relationship with this important tier of the democratic system’ and hoped to visit all municipalities in Western Victoria Region in the near future, of which there are over 20.
21 March 2019