By XAVIER SMERDON
WYNDHAM Council has been listed as one of the top polluters in Australia and will need to pay the carbon tax from next week.
The Australian Government’s Clean Energy Regulator wrote to Wyndham Council earlier this month and informed it that it had been listed as a liable entity.
Grater Bendigo, Geelong and Hume are the only other councils in Victoria that will be forced to pay the $23-per-tonne carbon tax.
Wyndham Council CEO Kerry Thompson said that the council’s rubbish tip was the reason for it being included as a top polluter.
“The Clean Energy Regulator has identified that Wyndham City will be liable to pay the Carbon Tax as a result of its landfill operations,” Ms Thompson said.
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and Fair Competition, Senator Scott Ryan, said Wyndham families were being punished because their municipality had a tip.
“Families move to this area to get ahead, to raise kids in a great community and to settle on their own patch of land. But these hard working local mums and dads are being stretched to the limit thanks to the carbon tax. Instead of being rewarded for their hard work, families are being slugged with rate rises, power price surges and job instability,” Mr Ryan said.
“It beggars belief that Wyndham City Council will be taxed for collecting and disposing household rubbish.”
But Ms Thompson said the news would only have a minor financial impact on residents.
“Wyndham City’s landfill is operated as a commercial business and the majority of its revenue is generated by commercial customers and not Wyndham ratepayers – less than 10 per cent of the waste deposited at our landfill is from residents. As a result, the vast majority of Wyndham’s carbon tax liability will be passed on to commercial customers,” she said.
“An allowance for the carbon tax has also been made in the garbage charge for the impact of the carbon tax for waste disposal. The garbage charge is not expected to rise by more than $20 in 2012/2013, which incorporates the increase in the State Government EPA levy from $44 per tonne to $48.40 per tonne as well as the introduction of the Carbon Tax.”
