North East and Goulburn Murray Farmer

Page 1

NORTH EAST AND GOULBURN MURRAY

Part of the Farmer Group Rural Newspapers Covering Victoria Published since 1984

AUGUST, 2016

Hay and Silage PAGES 11-13

37 Rowan Street, Wangaratta 3677

Livestock

Frost control and soil health

PAGES 16-21

PAGE 23

Local farmers fighting an ‘unfair’ rate system VFF calls for review into rating categories to ensure farmers are not paying more

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BY JODIE FLEMING

jfleming@ nemedia.com.au

residential or industry – below the rate cap, to deliver an average rate rise that’s 2.5 per cent or under,” he said. Mr Tuohey said the VFF’s original submission to the Essential Services Commission’s (ESC) discussion paper on the fair go rate cap warned this could happen. “We called on the ESC to apply category caps in our 2015 submission,” he said. “It would have meant no one category could go up by more than 2.5 per cent this time around.” Continued page 6

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BRIGHT FUTURE: Everton sheep farmer Adam Bennett recently took part in the Australian Sheep & Wool Show in Bendigo and came home with a collection of ribbons for his efforts. See page 6 for full story.

FARMERS who pay rates to Benalla Rural City Council are calling for an overhaul of the state’s 2.5 per cent ‘fair-go rates cap’. Local producers have attracted strong support from the Victorian Farmers’ Federation (VFF) and say they are tired of being charged higher rates than other residential and commercial land owners. Former VFF president Peter Tuohey said councils were continually “cranking up” the farm rate rise while keeping the overall average increase across all ratepayers at or below the 2.5 per cent fair-go cap. “Many local governments simply hit the farm category with an above cap rate rise and then keep other categories – commercial,


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