The Waste Levy Bill, before state parliament, is aimed at curbing the flow of New South Wales trucks driving across the border to dump trash in Queensland landfills.
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Queensland is the only state without a waste levy and the bill was aiming at stopping interstate waste ending up in Queensland landfill after ABC Four Corners exposed the practice last year.
The Four Corners investigation exposed an organised network of waste transporting and freighting companies sending waste by road and by rail to Queensland to avoid paying the high NSW landfill levy of $138 per tonne.
Large construction companies trucked more than 900,000 tonnes of waste into Queensland in the 2016/17 financial year alone.
The new Queensland levy is $70 per tonne levy and is slated for 38 Queensland councils deemed to have a population greater than 10,000 people.
The state government has argued that, even despite the cost to the councils, there would be no impact passed onto ratepayers thanks to a 105 per cent rebate that is being offered.
But state MP Robbie Katter has argued the rebate will be lessened over time and the levy would eventually operate as a tax.
With its population of 19,000 Mount Isa is included as a levy council but all the rest are either on the coast or near the NSW border so it does seem an anomaly.
As Opposition spokesperson David Crisafulli told the North West Star, “I don’t know how many trucks are going to drive from northern NSW to the Isa to save a few bucks on dumping.”
The Mount Isa City Council gave evidence to a parliamentary hearing into the matter but its application to be excluded was rejected by the state government.
Mount Isa City Council says the levy will cost $2.5m each year – which spread across 7800 ratepayers would amount to $320 a head annually.
Mayor Joyce McCulloch told the hearing the cost would “most definitely” have to be passed onto ratepayers.
The state government says the levy will “create a much-needed source of funding for regional waste infrastructure programs, including for Mount Isa”.
That remains to be seen. – Derek Barry