Bureaucracy

[Jerry_Atrick]

On 12/03/2023 at 10:52 PM, facthunter said:

CAT is "Roof Rabbit".  Wild raised animals are less fatty and more flavourful.  Rabbit is supposed to be NOT that nutritious. Nev

https://optimisingnutrition.com/rabbit-starvation/#h-what-is-rabbit-starvation

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

I know this thread is about the bureucracy of the public service and regulations, but in my new role in a private sector organisation that boasts being about cutting red tape, I have never hit bureaucracy like it. OK, I worked in the public service as a youngan in Aus, and with the Ministry of Defence here, but they have nothing on what I have to go through at the moment. I have to go to one forum to get approval for budget and headcount for a project. I go to another forum to get approval for the budget; and yet another forum (they don't like to call them committees - too bureaucratic, I guess) to get approval for the heads... The same senior managers sit on all three forums.

 

Work that one out!

[facthunter]

Stress will shorten your life. Seems like a show that could be used as an example of what NOT to do.. Nev

[onetrack]

Bringing up Tony Maddoxs' court case as regards his illegal causeway upsetting the Rainbow Serpent, and leading to a trial for infringing the Aboriginal Heritage Act - unbelievably, the judge has adjourned their decision multiple times - first it was to April, then to June 24th, now it's been adjourned again to 21st August this year.

 

The judge obviously works on "Noongar Time" (Blackfella time, known to be highly extendable, as regards timing, appointments, dates, showing up for the job, etc, etc ....)

 

https://www.facebook.com/NoongarsBeLike/videos/hahaha-noongar-time/318503252814375/

[willedoo]

12 hours ago, onetrack said:

The judge obviously works on "Noongar Time" (Blackfella time, known to be highly extendable, as regards timing, appointments, dates, showing up for the job, etc, etc ....)

They have a similar thing in Indonesia. I forget the words but they translate to rubber time, meaning flexible time. You see it written for some routes on blackboard timetables at bus stations.

[Bruce Tuncks]

i heard tht " mebbe morrow" is a good way to extend your time for paying them. I suggest you say this continually.

[Jerry_Atrick]

On 22/02/2024 at 11:20 PM, facthunter said:

Stress will shorten your life. Seems like a show that could be used as an example of what NOT to do.. Nev

Agreed.. hence I am looking for a new short term contract to see me to the end of the refurb.

 

[facthunter]

I have a full time job giving my wife situations where she can correct me.   Nev

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

I have a full time job giving my wife situations where she can correct me.   Nev

The way to a woman's heart is through gifts. If, Nev, you are doing it full time then the road to hers must be straight and traffic-free.

[facthunter]

I try to do whatever makes her Happy. I was warned long ago that eventually your wife turns into your mother.  Nev

[spacesailor]

I thought / was told, " mother-in-law ", I liked my M-in-L .

spacesailor

 

[facthunter]

Your wife ends up LOOKING LIKE your mother in Law is a well known warning. . That's not what I meant.  I had 2 Mothers in Law and never had one bad word with either of them.  Mothers in Law get a bad wrap but I may be lucky I concede that.  Nev

[willedoo]

I'm living in an area that's been inundated by interstate migrants mainly from Melbourne and Sydney. As a consequence, real estate supply cannot meet demand and there's been a feeding frenzy in the real estate market since Covid. That's caused a big spike in State Government land valuations which are based on the unimproved value of the land. My place is fairly typical and increased in unimproved value by $320,000 which puts me at $210,000 over the threshold for paying Land Tax. The threshold of $600,000 is biased against single people as the tax liability is to the individual. For example, as I'm the sole owner of the property, I'm liable for the tax levied on the total amount of value over the threshold. On the other hand, a married couple with joint ownership each get a $600,000 threshold for their 50% share in the property. The resulting difference is that my next door neighbours with a similar property and similar valuation won't be liable until their unimproved property value exceeds $1,200,000, whereas I'm liable once it's over $600,000.

 

If you are living on the property and it's your primary residence, you can apply for an exemption, but there's a catch. The catch is that their definition of a home is a house council approved and registered as a habitable building. Mine doesn't come into that category. It was registered and approved as a shed 28 years ago and I've lived in it ever since but never gone through the red tape to upgrade it to council approval for living. The problem now is that red tape is 50 times more expensive than 28 years ago. The upgrade cost would be in the tens of thousands which I don't have. Depending on how long I live it might be cheaper just to pay the tax which at present rates is the equivalent of $50 per week. Add to that the council rates windfall due to the valuations might add around another $20 per week, so paying $70 per week extra with an age pension income is a sizeable amount out of an already tight budget.

 

Meanwhile with elections coming up, we are hearing plenty of weasel words from governments about the cost of living crisis. They don't practice what they preach. My tactic at this stage is to not apply for an exemption and stay off the radar. If I get a bill from them then I can make a decision from there. There's been no mention of these issues from state government, most likely as we're in the lead up to an election later in the year and the LNP opposition is running their election platform on cost of living and law and order. Cost of living is a hot potato for the Labor state government which is doing poorly in the polls, so my guess is the land tax assessments won't arrive until after the election. It would make no difference which side won the election, they both know how to put their hand in your pocket.

[spacesailor]

My rateable value is now $ 900, 000 .

As the realestate value is $ 1,200,000, I must have a very cheap house .

SO . I'll sell the house at the realestate value,  

 

Plus the council value. Equals a good saleable price. 

spacesailor

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

I reckon, spacey, that they will have a clause which lets them off paying out on over-valuations.....  but feel free to have a go. At least you may embarass  them a bit.

[Bruce Tuncks]

And I wish you well willedoo.....  maybe a sham marriage would help?   But be very careful as you may lose a lot more than 50 a week.

I knew this guy who found that he could emigrate to Australia if he had a sham marriage, so he actually did it.

[spacesailor]

My X s,i,l, did it to save a woman from " deportation " .

She repayed him for half his assets. 

spacesailor

[willedoo]

Regarding the new land valuations: I just received my rates bill and the local council has partially done the right thing by decreasing the cents in the dollar formula for calculating rates. The result is an increase of $365 per year instead of the expected $1,000 increase under the previous calculation rate. They've also increased their pensioner discount by $14 p.a. which makes a net gain to council of $351. The state government pensioner rates discount didn't change.

 

It's one of those things you just have to cop on the chin. The reality is the rates here are still cheaper than in a lot of council districts out the back of woop woop. Those places have cheaper land and cheaper housing but often the rates are quite a bit higher than here on the coast.

[onetrack]

I'm glad I live in W.A., it sounds like Qld rates are pretty vicious. We live on a 562 sq m block in the inner city, less than 5kms from the CBD. The block is a standard size for the subdivision that took place probably around the 1930's. The house was built in 1957, it was originally 2 bed, 1 bath and a sleepout, but the house had a 3rd bedroom added in the 1960's, where the sleepout had been.

 

It's a nice house to live in, it was built by a builder and is double brick and tile with raised hardwood timber floors. It has high ceilings (2.7M) and ornately decorated ceilings. Apparently it's valued at around $1.2M on the open market - but we don't want to sell, we like living here, it's crime-free, has leafy treed streets and no social problems.

 

We got this years rates just the other day, the council we're in, is one of the largest in Perth, Stirling City Council. They're well run and they keep an emphasis on cost control and low debt levels, and low rate increases. Our rate increase this year is 2.9% over last years rates.

Residential properties here are rated on "Gross Rental Value" How this figure is arrived at is a mystery to me, it's kind of like the Pommy engine HP measurements of the mid-1900's.

We can reportedly get $795 a week rent for this place if we decided to rent it (but we don't plan to) - but the Govt Valuer say the GRV is $18790 annually.

 

The rates are struck on a rate of 1.4555c in the $ on the GRV, so the actual rates for this place are $989. We pay $272 in Emergency Services Levy, $45 for a Community Safety Service charge (Security patrols that mostly check on kids lighting fires in schools), and $395 for our Waste removal service (green waste, household waste and recyclables - we have 3 bins).

 

The  total comes to $1701 and we get $630 pensioner rebate from the State Govt, making our rates bill $1070. I feel this is very reasonable for what we get, and where we live. 

I have to agree with Willie, a lot of the outlying, rural/remote councils have some horrendous rates charges, and I guess a lot of this is due to the low numbers of people in those council regions.

[willedoo]

onetrack, are those the rates on an annual basis? The reason I ask is that here we pay half yearly, eg: two rates bills per year for the six month period. I ease the pain by paying them weekly. The council lets you do that via direct bank debit. I think it suits them because they get access to your money earlier and it suits some ratepayers because you don't get lumped with the full bill every six months.

[onetrack]

Willie, that's the annual bill, we can pay it in one lump sum, monthly, or quarterly, or half-yearly, according to what we choose - with no extra costs such as interest added. We pay monthly, it works out fine for us.

 

Edited August 1 by onetrack

[willedoo]

My general rate is $993 per half year, so $1986 p.a.. The other levies would be fairly similar I'd guess. On an annual basis council levies for environment, transport and arts and heritage amount to $149 p.a. making the annual council component $2135. Added to that council collects on behalf of the state government the state emergency management levy ($119 pa) and the rural fire levy ($25 pa). We don't have town water down my road so that saves a bit more and I don't have wheelie bins so I don't get charged the waste management fee. I think I'm probably the only resident in the whole road that doesn't have bins.