Save the Murray Levy scrapped
UPDATED: The Save the Murray levy will be abolished from next month, saving households at least $40 a year and businesses more than $182.
Premier Jay Weatherill, who has previously made campaigning for a national Murray agreement a central political issue, said the levy would be scrapped in tomorrow’s state Budget because “the original purpose of the fund has been achieved”.
“We now have a national plan to support and improve the health of the river,” he said.
“We understand the cost of living pressures faced by South Australian households and want to look at ways in which we can ease that burden.”
He said the levy was originally introduced in 2003 to fund measures “to improve the health of the river in the state”.
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“The specific measures funded by the Save the River Murray Levy will continue to be delivered (but) we also want to reduce the cost of doing business in South Australia to encourage investment and help create jobs,” he said.
The measure will cost the budget around $109 million over the forward estimates.
The levy currently applies to the water bills of 415,000 households and 50,200 non-residential properties.
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The Opposition pointed out that it took a plan to scrap the levy to last year’s state election, only for the Weatherill Government to oppose the policy.
“The Government has adopted Liberal policies for international student attraction, body worn cameras for police and now abolishing the River Murray Levy,” said Liberal leader Steven Marshall.
But Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis said the decision followed his recent review into state taxes, arguing that unlike his much-criticised Emergency Services Levy impost, the Save the Murray levy was a “regressive tax in that it had a greater impact on lower-income households”.
“The levy is a flat fee for all levy payers rather than a progressive fee based on property values, which is considered a better indicator of a person’s ability to pay,” he said.
But the move was greeted with scepticism by environmental groups, with Conservation Council CEO Craig Wilkins telling InDaily: “We are a hell of a long way from ‘Mission Accomplished’ when it comes the long term health of the Murray.”
“Will the Government guarantee equivalent funds from general revenue to the Department for Environment, Water and Natural Resources for Murray related-works? If not, this could mean a huge cut in on-ground activity and the ability of the SA Government to purchase precious water for wetlands and environmental flows, and yet another blow to an environment portfolio that has been slashed over the last few years,” he said.
“How quickly we forget the desperate position our lifeblood river was in just a couple of years ago.
“There is a real risk the federal process will be sabotaged by the upstream states, and we’ll again be left to manage a dying river when drought returns.”
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