Bandit tactics !

Councils - the third tier of government - are between a rock and a hard place.  Federal and State governments control the money flow, but at the same time shift responsibility for services onto this lower level, adding to their cost structure.

Councils find themselves in a finance straitjacket.   Rate rises are pegged below the rate of inflation, and grants from both the Federal and State level are usually way short of the actual costs involved.   Councils are making up the shortfall by bandit tactics.

They are pushing their input from fees and charges to the limit.   While State governments get political kudos from pegging rate rises, they turn a blind eye to exorbitant service fees.  Everything from registering a dog to putting in a development application is edging ever upwards - and in some cases moving out of reach for many people.

Sport is the latest to be hit with the " user pays " principle.   The fee for the use of a council sporting oval is pushing some forms of junior sport to extinction.   We deplore child obesity but unrealistic ground fees are moving sport beyond parent's ability to pay.

Then there is " enforcement fees ".     Reduced to it's basic form, this is the tactic of expanding every possible offence on the council books that can attract an infringement fine - and  employing an ever expanding force of Rangers to issue fines without mercy.

In most cases it is a money trap.   This city's main stadium and all of it's performing arts centres are in a parking desert.  Any popular event leaves patrons no option than to park on nature strips or otherwise break laws - and the council reaps a huge bonanza by way of fines.

Federal and State governments reluctantly agree that local councils are underfunded, but both levels of government have their own finance problems, and it is not likely that either will open their coffers to give relief.

This is adding to the groundswell of public anger that is giving rise to the " occupancy " movement against the balance between rich and poor.    We have seen struggles between protestors and police in both Melbourne amd Sydney, and there have been complaints of excessive force.

This movement is a warning sign that all forms of government need to take seriously.  The cost balance against the average person has tilted in the wrong direction.  If it is ignored, events that we see on television news happening overseas  may become reality on our own streets !