Reality of tax hitting hard for all
Dear Editor,
The emergency services tax isn’t gone—it’s just a one-year stay of execution for farmers.
The reality is every Victorian homeowner, business and renter will pay a 100 per cent increase to cover this new tax.
Labor has slapped hardworking Victorians with 61 new or increased taxes since coming to office—taking more money from you and your family.
With July 1 just around the corner—a raft of government fees and charges are set to rise.
Car registration, power bills and water bills are all set to increase as well as the new emergency services tax.
Labor is plunging Victorians further into a cost-of-living crisis at a time when many families are stretching every dollar as far as they can.
The Nationals will scrap five taxes—including the emergency services tax—so you have more money in your pocket.
Labor can’t manage money and Victorians are paying the price.
Danny O’Brien MP
Leader of The Nationals
Pick up after our dogs
Editor,
As a dog owner I take great care when walking my small dog, that I pick up her fecal matter.
I walk my dog twice a day in Kilmore and I continually see dog fecal matter that has been left on the footpath, nature strips and even on front lawns.
I am finding this problem has gotten worse over the last couple of years. As dog owners, we all have a responsibility to pick up after our dogs.
I have found dog poo which looked liked it was from a big dog on my front lawn near the nature strip. I am appalled at dog owners attitudes who don’t pick up after their dogs. If you can’t be bothered picking up after your dog, don’t be a dog owner.
Lauren
Drought support still misses the mark
Labor’s latest drought package is nothing more than a political stunt designed to generate headlines, not help the farmers who are hanging on by a thread.
While access to infrastructure grants for parts of north-east and central Victoria may sound like progress, they miss the mark entirely.
The funding fails to address the immediate and critical needs of our primary producers – particularly the need for urgent assistance with water, fodder, and the mounting cost of staying afloat in some of the toughest conditions in living memory.
Offering a temporary, one-year pause on emergency services levy increases is a token gesture at best.
It’s a weak concession that does little to ease the long-term financial burden, and we know that as soon as the year is up, they will expect farmers to do the heavy lifting again.
We won’t forget how readily this government exploited struggling regional communities to cover for its own financial mismanagement.
On top of all of this, drought still hasn’t been formally declared in our region.
Our farmers are at breaking point.
The paddocks are dry, the dams are empty, and debts are growing.
In the face of all this, Labor has delivered lip service rather than leadership.
These half-measures and hollow announcements aren’t just inadequate— they’re insulting.
Annabelle Cleeland
Member for Euroa
