The two major parties have combined in the Legislative Assembly to rebuff a bid from Independent Thomas Emerson to overturn the deferral of a new fee system for builders blocking footpaths and roads around construction sites.
The Barr Government had decided to slug developers in the hope a financial penalty would encourage builders to find ways to keep footpaths open during construction projects – a decision Mr Emerson applauded.
But the Property Council successfully lobbied the government to postpone the fees for a year so industry could adjust, saying the fees had been introduced without consultation.
Mr Emerson asked if these groups were consulted on the deferral or if it was a case of the government backsliding when there was industry pushback.
He said the ACT was an outlier on this issue with other cities in Australia already charging developers for using unleased public land around construction sites.
He said the new fees would not be retrospective and only affect new projects, giving industry enough time to adjust to the regime and find ways to keep footpaths and roads open if they wanted to avoid paying.
Read the article here: https://region.com.au/developers-footpath-fee-deferral-survives-barbecue-tax-waived/905840/