Thursday, 6 February 2025

Vacant residential land tax

Tim McCURDY (Ovens Valley) (17:16): (993) My adjournment is to the Treasurer in the other place on behalf of Steve Belli, president of Mount Hotham Chamber of Commerce, and other Dinner Plain residents. The action I seek is that the Treasurer recognise Dinner Plain as part of the alpine resorts in relation to the vacant residential land tax. The amendment to the Land Tax Act 2005 was passed in December 2024 and recognised that resorts which are under the jurisdiction of Alpine Resorts Victoria would be considered alpine resorts and therefore exempt from the vacant residential land tax. The basis for this exemption was that the application of VRLT would be inappropriate due to cyclical seasonal demand for accommodation and the application of the VRLT would be inconsistent with the purpose of the VRLT, which is to encourage owners of vacant residential homes to make them available for long-term or key worker accommodation.

Dinner Plain, although outside the jurisdiction of Alpine Resorts Victoria, fulfils all the definitions of being an alpine resort, and for the purposes of the Land Tax Act should be considered as such. Dinner Plain is unique in that it is the only alpine resort in Victoria which has not been exempted from the VRLT under the recent amendment to the act. This is an anomaly which I request to be considered and corrected in order to avoid any inappropriate unfairness against Dinner Plain householders and businesses. Dinner Plain is situated in the alpine region of north-east Victoria. It has an altitude of 1570 metres. It is 10 kilometres from Mount Hotham. It has an altitude similar to Hotham, Falls Creek, Mount Buller and Mount Stirling and is higher than Mount Baw Baw and Lake Mountain, all of which come under ARV jurisdiction. It has a similar cyclical snow season to the other alpine resorts, lasting from June through to early October, and runs the same snow season dates as the ARV resorts. I request the Treasurer to consider this application on its merits and exempt Dinner Plain from the vacant residential land tax.