Council rates and 'wasteful' spending to be cut under Libs
SYDNEY: Residents and businesses in the inner-city could be paying less council rates, with the Liberal Party announcing its plan for the City of Sydney involves massively reducing capital spending as well as a 10 per cent cut and freeze of rates.
The plan was launched at Taylor Square on Friday by high-profile federal Liberal politician Malcolm Turnbull.
Liberal lord mayoral candidate Edward Mandla (pictured) promised to put an end to what he said was the “nutty schemes” and “wasteful spending” by current Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
“We will cut rates then freeze them for residents and businesses by 10 per cent from 2012-2013 levels,” Mandla said.
The rate freeze would be in place for three years.
If elected, the Liberal team has also promised to reduce Council operating costs by a net five per cent while also commencing an immediate audit of all Council spending.
Christine Forster, the gay sister of federal Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott and the number two Liberal candidate for the September 8 election, said Sydney was fast becoming too expensive for people to live in and do business.
“According to leading researcher UBS, Sydney is now the world’s 7th most expensive city and is the only Australian city to make the list. About the time Clover Moore became Mayor, New York was 25 per cent more expensive than Sydney. Today Sydney is 50 per cent more expensive,” she said.
“If we stick with this Lord Mayor, that will get even worse.”
Responding to the claims, Moore said the City had produced balanced budgets over the last eight years and called upon the Liberal Party to declare where exactly they would reduce spending.
“If the Liberals gain control of the Council, they will return the City to the financial mess it was in when presided over by Liberal aligned administrations over the last century. The City was bankrupt in the early ‘90s,” Moore said.
“The Liberal plan to cut operating costs by five per cent is Liberal code language for slashing jobs and puts 200 council jobs on the line. They need to come clean on whose jobs they will slash.”
- Tags: Christine Forster, City of Sydney, Clover Moore, Council, Edward Mandla, Election, Liberal Party, Politics, Rates, Spending Cuts, SX
Comments (1)
The Liberal Party of Tony Abbott is trying to promote cost cutting in Sydney with his sister running for council, so street sweeping will not get done much, and the garbage collection will be cut to once a month. They are making big claims about caring about the cost of living, but have failed to talk about the LNP State government reaping more then a billion, in electricity price hikes, since they won office. They have also failed to talk about the true impact of Tony Abbott's hate, and the real cost of homophobic violence that is on the rise. Rolling out Malcolm Turnbull, a man who crossed the floor on a Tax, but refused to do this for equality, is not exactly saying we care about Sydney either.