Nsw Govt Slugs Boat Owners And Harbour Users Again

[pelican]

:1badmood:

Can't work out why they would only do it East of the bridge and only in Sydney harbour. They could have got so much more doing it across the board. Politicians in general need a kick in the head but this mob are pea brains. Absolute peanuts

Oh and did mention goodbye Jetcat and hello to a 50c levy on ferry fares. Well that'll encourage commuters won't it?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/nsw-mi...6318618577.html

Mini-budget at a glance

Email Printer friendly version Normal font Large font November 11, 2008 - 12:35PM

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TRANSPORT

- Time of day tolling will be introduced for the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Harbour Tunnel. Motorists who come into the city outside the peak times will pay less than those who travel in peak times.

Peak tolls will be $4 (from 6.30am to 9.30am and 4pm to 7pm Monday to Friday). A "shoulder" toll will be $3 (from 9.30am to 4 pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 8pm on weekends and public holidays). An off-peak toll will be $2.50 (from midnight to 6.30am and 7pm to midnight Monday to Friday and 8pm to 8am weekends and public holidays).

- A 50-cent levy will be introduced for each ferry trip to raise $7 million to upgrade and maintain wharves.

- $1.8 billion for a Sydney Metro system.

- $170 million for 300 extra buses.

- $370 million for extra train carriages and storage.

- $56 million for additional commuter car parks.

- $56 million for customer services at train stations.

- Private mooring fees in eastern Sydney Harbour will be increased to fund boat ramps, public jetties and wharves.

- A 12-month limit will be placed on M4 and M5 cashback claims.

HEALTH

- $125.9 million in cuts this financial year in areas including overtime and casual workforce.

- Increase in fees to private specialists using public health facilities.

- Ending public subsidies to private hospitals for the cost of providing blood and blood products.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

- An extra $40 million for children and young people in out-of-home care.

- $20 million for special education and increased support for schools in disadvantaged areas.

- Several hundred million dollars to be raised from long-term leases of the Harbourside Shopping Centre at Darling Harbour, Sydney Aquarium, IMAX Theatre and Australian Technology Park. Long-term leases represent a further downgrading of planning responsibilities at the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority and Redfern/Waterloo Authority.

- 750 extra police officers by 2011.

- $181 million upgrade of convention facilities at the Sydney Showgrounds at Olympic Park has been dumped.

- Civil litigants who use the NSW Supreme Court will pay more in fees.

- 14 more lawyers will be funded for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

- The Victims Compensation Levy will be doubled from $70 for offenders convicted of serious offences.

- Waste levy will be increased by $3 a tonne.

- Levies on the construction of new houses will be cut.

- The Government will sell NSW Lotteries, Waste Service NSW, the superannuation administration corporation (Pillar) and the Roads and Traffic Authority's non-standard number plates business.

- A licence fee for child-care centres of $700 a year for small services and $1100 for large services, to be introduced from 2009-10.

Edited November 11, 2008 by pelican

[daleyboy]

You cant work out why its only east of the harbour bridge?

Thats easy ... most areas east of the harbour bridge are safe liberal seats while most areas west of the bridge are safe labor seats ... as usual labor are just looking after their own!

[brickman]

it could also be that east off the bridge can well aford to pay extra hit them hard

go the blue collar boys

gary

[johnno]

:1badmood:

- Private mooring fees in eastern Sydney Harbour will be increased to fund boat ramps, public jetties and wharves.

I think it is pretty harsh charging moored boats

90% of moored boats don,t even use a boat ramp and use slipways at there cost

I thought our fishing licence help pay for some ramps repairs etc

Maybe the 50c increase in the ferry should pay for the damage some of the ferries do with the major

wash coming off them.To repair wharves and jetties

[pelican]

Gary - am laughing out the side of my face!!

Careful what you wish for "blue collar boy" as governments have a habbit of changing bridges and moving boundaries very fast when there is a dollar in it. Next week it will be Iron Cove and the week after it will be Captain Cook and then it will be Parramatta Weir.

Next will be a cngestion charge for anything travelling anywhere - I think that is called a state petrol tax. I think they will try and call it something like "Green city healthy air everyone wants this carbon user tax".

Guessing it was a tounge in cheek

One of the family boats has a mast and hence kept moored on the East of the Spit Bridge which also cops the higher rate. Oh yeah so if I live in Katoomba but have a boat on the harbour I'm instantly rich and should be discriminated against for mooring outside some multi million dollar house. Maybe I should go the other side of the Spit Bridge and spend my live waiting for the few openings that happen?

Not all people who have moored boats happen to live in the residence they are out front of.

If I didn't also own a trailerboat I'd suggest to our wonderful politicians a trailerboat tax as they use all those expensive pieces of land called ramps. I Think Tunks , Roseville and Rose Bay would bring a fairly steep price.

Seriously these are all community facilities and the ideas from our stupid successive governments that everything should be privatised and user pays is a crazy money grabbing load of crap. All boaters pay more than enough tax in their income , fuel and GST on all the goods and services they use and shouldn't be specifically targeted just because they don't have a large political voice.

Maritime is already profitable and self funding and is on the lookout for any more paid duties ike harbour security that they can get State money for so all these extra fees over and above inflation are just so they can pay a higher divident back to the State and so if they are privatised the State get a better price for em.

Edited November 12, 2008 by pelican

[brickman]

hey pel yes the coment was off the cuff and being blue to the bone proberly does'nt help

i did'nt relise that some boats mored were actuly working class folk you learn somthing every day

the sate gov was broke before the crash so i think anythink that gets a buck is on the cards the british model off congestion tax raises big bucks so i think it will be portrayed as a green tax so bobby b can feel all warm and fussy

cherrs gary

[pelican]

Yeah I knew it was Gary !!!!!!!

I just took the chance you gave me to have a rant as the situation in NSW is a joke. I don't mind paying tax but the way it gets spent shits me. I just can't work out where it all goes in the good times. If you or I ran our businesses half way as bad we would be out of business the week after we opened the doors. Now we are headed to deficiets so all the cash will go towards interest on government borrowings so I just don't believe any money taxed on us will actually make it to facilities for years as there won't be any $ just political spin. Both major parties are spineless and thinking of their next election not physical benefits for the public they should and it just allows poorly thought out marine parks and things to get through as there is no funding to find out the truth of situations.

Might join Slinky and follow the sunshine as 25 years of bad management is catching up with NSW will have us up the creek for 5 years.

Happy to pay an extra $20 for mooring or rego but not to subsidise public ferry wharves that privatised ferry operators will demolish and new rules that further restrict boats in the harbour which is one of the few freedoms I really get relaxation from.

With all the new marinas planned we may have to do odds and evens depending on our boat rego number to see if we can go for a sail or fish in a harbour with a 10knot speed limit. But it's all OK if you pay an extra fee you'll be able to go out whenever you want. I shouldn't suggest that in case soe govt prat thinks it is a good idea.

Jetcat would make an ideal offshore boat and will be going cheap soon or if they stop maintaining them any more we could all chip in and it would make a great reef if it accidently sank.

Pel

[brickman]

with you on the cats pel and give me 5 years and i'm off to a river somwere up north

do'nt care were just a river going to the sea

cherrs gary