By BELINDA GIARDINO
THE Urban Development Institute of Australia (Victoria) has called for taxes collected from new blocks of land to be put back into local infrastructure, such as improving choked roads.
Executive director of the UDIA Tony De Domenico said on an average block of $199,000, taxes and charges across the three levels of Government came to $46,200 – according to figures by Charter Keck Cramer for 2011.
Mr De Domenico said with the Prime Minister Julia Gillard the city’s local member, Wyndham is a forgotten place and not politically important to the government.
He believes too much emphasis is being placed on environmental issues, like protecting the Golden Sun Moth, rather than considering other aspects of the community.
“We’ve got to have social and economic thinking, not just environmental,” said Mr De Domenico.
He says there is a way of doing all three, and says the money collected from the taxes on blocks is better spent on infrastructure, both for the people living in the areas and for the local economy.
“Wyndham’s population has grown 7.8 per cent over the last year, Melton 5.8 per cent, and the unemployment rate in the West is 7.6 per cent, higher than other areas,” he said.
He believes infrastructure should be built first, and then people will follow.
With New South Wales now using the infrastructure bond concept, Mr De Domenico said he believes the other states will follow.
