Member for Davidson, Jonathan O’Dea has slammed the Labor Government’s discriminatory charges to cross Sydney Harbour.
“At a time, when families and individuals need help and encouragement to face challenging economic times, the Labor Government’s Mini Budget hits them harder by removing services and increasing charges,” Mr O’Dea said.
“For northern motorists, the cost of crossing the harbour during peak hours will increase by a third – from $3.00 to $4.00.
“This is highway robbery,” Mr O’Dea said, “and opens the way for the Government to slug motorists even more by introducing the same system on other toll roads.
“Despite the Treasurer claiming it is ‘time of day tolling’, in effect it is a congestion tax,” Mr O’Dea said.
“As a result, there are questions over the legality of the new charge.
“The increased charges are listed in the State Mini-Budget as revenue measures that will raise more than $40 million over the next 4 years and will be used for the public purpose of purchasing buses – not for construction, maintenance or debt repayment associated with the harbour crossings.
“If the new charges are in fact a congestion tax, they will be illegal – unless the government introduces specific tax legislation,” Mr O’Dea said.
“It would appear the Government needs to urgently seek professional legal advice from taxation experts or it could find it is acting outside the law and needing to repay a lot of motorists.
“The uncertainty about the new charges further undermines confidence in a government which appears to have lost its way and unfairly discriminates against residents in Sydney’s North, North West and beyond,” Mr O’Dea concluded.
