Why are so many of our current and previous politicians so intent in diverting investment money away from local real estate such as farms and encourage the accumulation of foreign and local financial assets through the impost of a Superannuation Levy system on employees wages? While we think we are so smart with investing overseas on questionable easy investments,like the Prime Mortgage Funds, Shares and other financial instruments; the much smarter asians are buying up prime farming land using our billions spent on imported good. The imported good will sooner or later end up in landfill but the farms will still be producing food for asian countries.
Surely others can see the stupidity in public policy when both politicians and the public are so mezmerised into believing will generate a safe retirement without buying any local real estate. IMO I cant see how this direction will ever have the desired effect other than to dispossess another generation of a decent retirement as more than one extra financial crisis will surely wipe out the value of most financial assets.
Well actually, i do believe i know why Peter Costello Tresurer in the Howard government indroduced taxation incentives to encourage the sale of property to be invested into Superannuation Funds...was implemented to discourage property inflation during the Howard years which was at a high risk of occurring during those years, and explains why the govt decided to pay off debt and not reduce taxes or dish out other benefits.
IMO most Australian well watered farmland is substantially undervalued by locals but my views are confirmed by the contuing buying spree of more prime farmlands and probably helping to keep our $A higher than otherwise might have been the case. What is not known is whether the foreign buyers are using their own capital reserves or whether they are borrowing locally to fund purchses in both mining and farming assets. Too complex for me to really say...only the RBA would know.
The 9% Levy soon to be increased through bribery to 12% is no more than fools gold which in my opinion which on top of excessively high wages is assisting in the demise of Australian Industry which in addition with Carbon taxes are forcing such companies as BlueScope Steel to reduce expensive staff in Australia and employ Asian staff at around $1.50- $3 per hour.No super Levy, No Workers Comp, No EPA conditions, No Carbon Taxes, No Maternity/ Paternity Leave or Holiday Loading...maybe just some bribery?
The remaining Private Sector is then left to support the unemployable, the old, the sick and the Local, State and Federal govt workers whose benefits are underwritten through taxation. Are we going back to the Kings & Serfs of old? Where the King and his men decided what the serfs could do with their land and how much in taxes they should pay to support the King & his entourage of administrators?
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Friday, 10 August 2012
An article in last month Lilydale Leader [18th July 2012 ] almost went unnoticed and few people made any mention or the seriousness of what happened to FIONA and Craig Mitchell of Belgrave and shows what does happen when State listerns to Council Planners and the Greens getting together to protect the environment but in so doing they also destroy ratepayers private wealth.
FIONA and Craig Mitchell's Belgrave home is now uninsured because their long time insurers, Australian Unity underwriters have withdrawn from providing insurance in Belgrave, Sassafras, Olinda and Monbulk due to the high fire risk of these heavily wooded areas and the bushfire risk was too great to cover them. The insurance company said an independent study [commissioned and based on Council research I bet] showed 80 per cent of Belgrave was a high fire risk, and it would not be renewing anyone's insurance policy in the area.
Few people may realise the serious consequential disavantages to all Yarra Ranges ratepayers but more particularly to homes and businesses in those non-insurable suburbs and the costs of conducting any businesses in those areas, when banks refuse to lend money unless they can get any form of insurance and this withdrawal of funds must result in substantial property price declines and substantial premium increases on insurance premiums offered by the few insurers who may still offer insurance. Property price drops will result in banks calling for a reduction of overdrafts and housing finance contracts causing a great deal of grief for many families in those areas.
Many businesses will need to pay an average but maybe higher General Fire, Contents & Public Liability insurance of about $100pw [ 50% of which are State charges] and this may result in a long painful demise of many varied businesses, some closing sooner, others taking longer to close. Property price falls will decrease the Yarra Ranges rateable collections for those areas and increase the rate in the $ for all other Yarra Ranges ratepayers. Everyone gets squeezed thand to the Red & Blue GREENS.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT SUPERANNUATION POLICY FAILURE
In my opinion progressive State Governments in Victoria Australia have failed miserably and been costing local property ratepayers bigtime because it has failed to get the Local Government Superannuation Scheme funding and investment arrangements right. In my living memory i recall that ratepayers have had to kick in $billions for the loses incurred by the Local Government Superannuation Scheme and local governments other merchant banking failures on at least three occassions.
Others might know the history better but i seem to recall the Kilmore area Council lifting rates by a massive 100% some years ago to cover for the losses incurred when their co-operative money market market MAV venture with other councils went broke, and during the Paul Keating recession we had to have another super fund went broke when the State Bank went broke. We forget history repeating itself but our policy makers are NOT protecting we ratepayers.
In my opinion it would be safer if NO NEW funds were put back in to cover the losses of the Local Government which are now running to several $billion because we would be risking losing it all again at the next financial crisis of which i estimate there will be several more. The Defined Benefit Schemes would be better funded on a Pay As You Go basis, so Councils would know how much it is really costing to employ all those extra staff and perhaps be a little more prudent in their hirings of staff..
I urge Ratepayers to look at this issue and contact your local MP's to demand a change to protect our own incomes.
Others might know the history better but i seem to recall the Kilmore area Council lifting rates by a massive 100% some years ago to cover for the losses incurred when their co-operative money market market MAV venture with other councils went broke, and during the Paul Keating recession we had to have another super fund went broke when the State Bank went broke. We forget history repeating itself but our policy makers are NOT protecting we ratepayers.
In my opinion it would be safer if NO NEW funds were put back in to cover the losses of the Local Government which are now running to several $billion because we would be risking losing it all again at the next financial crisis of which i estimate there will be several more. The Defined Benefit Schemes would be better funded on a Pay As You Go basis, so Councils would know how much it is really costing to employ all those extra staff and perhaps be a little more prudent in their hirings of staff..
I urge Ratepayers to look at this issue and contact your local MP's to demand a change to protect our own incomes.
Friday, 3 August 2012
WHY HAVE LIBERALS GIVEN BROTHELS & ACCOMMODATION EQUAL BILLING AS PROHIBITED USES ON GWZ LAND?
Whilst I welcomemost of the proposed new Planning Scheme amendment
ACCOMMODATION & BROTHELS are both regarded as Prohibited Uses on GREEN WEDGE ZONED Land which is still an illogical comparison for Accommodation use to be placed at the same level of prohibition and then with the State Liberals proposing to giving councils more flexibility on local issues makes no sense at all either when recently the Yarra Ranges Building Compliance dept sent an Order to a GWZ land owner claiming they could not house any fruit pickers, just the farmers family, otherwise they would have to change the home to a Class 1b building under BCA guidelines by getting another building permit and new occupancy permit for their already established home of 40 years.. A Class 1 a dwelling is a sole-occupancy-unit, whereas a Class 1b is a residential building of less than 300m sq floor area where no more than 12 unrelated would be resident and has more than 1 sole-occupancy-unit. They concluded that a bedroom is also classed as an attached bedroom room rented out to a separate tenant such as a fruit picker in a dwelling, is a sole-occupancy-unit [SOU is defined in the BCA].
I however would suggest that a seasonal fruit picker is not a resident and therefore the council claim is wrongly based, however this is an example of how quick the compliance officers are wanting to take issue and create legal battles without first giving consideration on how seasonal fruit pickers can be better housed without them having to sleep on tent stretchers after a hard days work bending over picking strawberries is something our planners and building compliance officers have never had to do in their lives. Changing building classes for seasonal fruit pickers is not an economical proposal for either farmers or investors who would want long termers to provide longer term income. The Yarra Ranges compliance team like to play like the role of Sheriff of Nottingham while the Economic and Agri-business departments are trying to negotiate longer term solutions, yet the only problem solver is going to be a Dept of Planning solution to over ride the Sheriff mentality. I do suggest farmers go direct to Matthew Guy to have the problem resolved this year instead of risking viability of our farms in the longer term.
This capricious interpretation of current laws & with then giving extra flexibility to Councils can only continue to have serious long term consequences for farmers when touring fruit pickers need to sleep in their cars or pitch tents on crown land because of the beauracratic interpretations of both building and Planning laws which puts Accommodation use in the same prohibited category as brothels
ACCOMMODATION & BROTHELS are both regarded as Prohibited Uses on GREEN WEDGE ZONED Land which is still an illogical comparison for Accommodation use to be placed at the same level of prohibition and then with the State Liberals proposing to giving councils more flexibility on local issues makes no sense at all either when recently the Yarra Ranges Building Compliance dept sent an Order to a GWZ land owner claiming they could not house any fruit pickers, just the farmers family, otherwise they would have to change the home to a Class 1b building under BCA guidelines by getting another building permit and new occupancy permit for their already established home of 40 years.. A Class 1 a dwelling is a sole-occupancy-unit, whereas a Class 1b is a residential building of less than 300m sq floor area where no more than 12 unrelated would be resident and has more than 1 sole-occupancy-unit. They concluded that a bedroom is also classed as an attached bedroom room rented out to a separate tenant such as a fruit picker in a dwelling, is a sole-occupancy-unit [SOU is defined in the BCA].
I however would suggest that a seasonal fruit picker is not a resident and therefore the council claim is wrongly based, however this is an example of how quick the compliance officers are wanting to take issue and create legal battles without first giving consideration on how seasonal fruit pickers can be better housed without them having to sleep on tent stretchers after a hard days work bending over picking strawberries is something our planners and building compliance officers have never had to do in their lives. Changing building classes for seasonal fruit pickers is not an economical proposal for either farmers or investors who would want long termers to provide longer term income. The Yarra Ranges compliance team like to play like the role of Sheriff of Nottingham while the Economic and Agri-business departments are trying to negotiate longer term solutions, yet the only problem solver is going to be a Dept of Planning solution to over ride the Sheriff mentality. I do suggest farmers go direct to Matthew Guy to have the problem resolved this year instead of risking viability of our farms in the longer term.
This capricious interpretation of current laws & with then giving extra flexibility to Councils can only continue to have serious long term consequences for farmers when touring fruit pickers need to sleep in their cars or pitch tents on crown land because of the beauracratic interpretations of both building and Planning laws which puts Accommodation use in the same prohibited category as brothels
RED GREENS CREDIT SQUEEZE HAS STARTED, BUT BLUE GREENS NOT HELPING US EITHER.
An article in last month Lilydale Leader [18th July 2012 ] almost went unnoticed and few people made any mention or realised the seriousness of what happened to FIONA and Craig Mitchell of Belgrave and shows what does happen when the lazy State Government listerns to Council Planners and the Greens getting together to protect the environment but in so doing they are also destroying ratepayers private wealth.
FIONA and Craig Mitchell's Belgrave home is now uninsured because their long time insurers, Australian Unity underwriters have withdrawn from providing insurance in Belgrave, Sassafras, Olinda and Monbulk due to the high fire risk of these heavily wooded areas and the bushfire risk was too great to cover them. The insurance company said an independent study [commissioned and based on Council research I bet] showed 80 per cent of Belgrave was a high fire risk, and it would not be renewing anyone's insurance policy in the area.
Few people may realise the serious consequential disavantages to all Yarra Ranges ratepayers but more particularly to homes and businesses in those non-insurable suburbs and the costs of conducting any businesses in those areas, when banks refuse to lend money unless they can get any form of insurance and this withdrawal of funds must result in substantial property price declines and substantial premium increases offered by the few insurers who may still offer insurance. Property price drops will result in banks calling for a reduction of overdrafts and housing finance contracts causing a great deal of grief for many families in those areas.
Many businesses will need to pay an average but maybe higher General Fire, Contents & Public Liability insurance of about $100pw [ 50% of which are State charges] and this may result in a long painful demise of many varied businesses, some closing sooner; others taking longer to close. Property price falls will decrease the Yarra Ranges rateable collections for those areas and increase the rate in the $ for all other Yarra Ranges ratepayers. Everyone gets squeezed thanks to the Red & Blue GREENS.
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