Posted on 01/13/2015 3:54:40 PM PST by naturalman1975
FOR many bushfire survivors, dealing with bureaucracy in the aftermath is just as challenging.
Anthony McMahon knows this firsthand, defiantly locked in a red-tape battle five years after the Black Saturday fires destroyed his business and a bridge leading to his Kinglake property.
The old bridge provided the only access to the bush block where he planned to build his home, but collapsed soon after the 2009 fires.
After knockbacks from government agencies, Mr McMahon rebuilt the bridge himself, with significant financial help from Rotary and a Catholic agency, at a cost of $50,000.
He has since received persistent demands from the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning asking him to pay a $170 annual licence fee to use the bridge. They want us to pay to use a bridge that weve built, he said.
I just think its obscene. Nobody was showing any interest at all (in rebuilding the bridge) and I think its absolutely ludicrous now that they want us to pay money.
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.com.au ...
The loss of this bridge was obviously only a minor part of all that - but the idea that this man who rebuilt it (to proper professional standards) when the government refused can be charged a fee to use it, really does seem pretty absurd.
Nice to know it’s not just American bureaucrats who can be ridiculously stupid and unreasonable.
Elizabeth Warren, “He didn’t build that.”
OK, so he needs to charge them a salary for building the bridge of $340/yr for the next 50 years until the full salary is paid.
He should counter with a bill for the construction costs.
Of course that's what property taxes are.
How can I access the article without a subscription to the website?
Do not poach the King’s deer.
This just proves that government in various countries are basically the same.They will grub for every dollar they think they can extort.
Kind or lousy to post a link to a subscription only site, huh?
Reinforces the point of the post.
Well yaaaah
Some of the articles are restricted to subscribers, some aren’t. As I am a subscriber, I can’t easily tell which is which, because I see them all.
The only major Australian newspapers which don’t limit at least some articles to subscribers are ones that won’t even allow links to their articles to be posted here, let alone reasonably substantial excerpts. They are also among the two most left wing sources of news in the country, so even if they did allow it, I’d be reluctant to use them here.
I’m sorry to those who can’t read everything they’d like to, but it is (fortunately) still a capitalist society, and these newspapers do want to make some money.
No problem, thanks for letting us know
Thanks for the content that you did post. As you probably already know, the U.S.A. and other formerly western culture countries are also over-regulated with onerous fees being taken from everyone. It’s a feeding frenzy in a shrinking economy.
My home was paid for by money my wife and I earned. We are charged over $1K/year taxes in order to continue to enjoy its comforts...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.