The formation of a new “”apolitical” ratepayers’ association was announced yesterday (sun aug15).
It comes after a separate group resolved at a public meeting at Hughes Community Centre last week to form a similar body.
The president of the new ACT Ratepayers’ Association of the ACT, Peter Jansen, said his group had reserved the name quite some time ago and had filed for incorporation under the Associations Incorporation Act. He said yesterday that after incorporation membership will be open to ratepayers.
He said the other group seemed to have too many party-political affiliations. He questioned how the other organisation could really get stuck into ACT politicians from the major parties if they did not perform when its driving forces were Lucinda Pier, a member of the Liberal Party, and Richard Farmer, who had links with the Labor Party.
Mr Jansen, now president of the Landlords Association of the ACT, was an unsuccessful Liberal candidate in the 1989 Legislative Assembly election, but he resigned from the party in 1991 citing its poor performance on small business issues.
He was concerned that the ratepayers’ association be non-political. It would fight to ensure that rates were for municipal services only and not siphoned off for other things.
It had a range of option from unlikely event of doing nothing because the politicians perform or to fielding candidates at the next election. The middle course was a watchdog one against both parties.
“”The Liberals whacked up rated by 17 (17 and a half) per cent three years ago and the Labor Party has been carrying on in the same way every since,” he said. “”ACT politicians must not treat ratepayers as a financial milking cow.”