THE State Government’s backflip on its latest land tax legislation has been labelled a political stunt and dismissed by landholders as a further failure by the government on planning issues.

Planning Minister Justin Madden released details of the government’s draft Growth Areas Infrastructure Contribution legislation on Friday and while initial reactions were positive, further investigation of the document created more concern for local residents.

Under the government’s initial proposal, the GAIC would be paid by any land vendor at point of sale, an issue which drew the strongest protest from local landowners.

Included in Friday’s release was the announcement that the burden of payment would be shifted to the purchaser, with an option to defer payment until the land is on-sold, subdivided or developed.

Jeanette Laffan, secretary of local residents’ lobby group Taxed Out, said the point of application changes for the legislation did not go far enough.

“From what we can see is that this is still on that first property transaction,” Mrs Laffan said.

“Who’s going to buy a property knowing that if they get sick, or have financial hardship and have to sell that they will be hit with this tax?

“We’re a captive market, no-one will buy this land except for developers and maybe that’s (the government’s) hidden agenda, because we’re an obstacle in the way of development.”

Mrs Laffan said the “hardship committee” clauses drafted into the policy were of little comfort to her or the landowners represented by Taxed Out.

“We just think that for legislation this important, they shouldn’t need a hardship committee if it is good legislation and fair legislation,” she said.

Friday’s announcement also drew scathing criticism from Opposition MPs.

“I have reservations about anything the Minister for Planning proposed, his track record on issues such as Melbourne 2020 have proven that he is most unsuitable and his policy is generally ill-thought-out and unsubstantiated,” Northern Victoria MP Donna Petrovich said.

Shadow Planning Minister Matthew Guy also questioned the timing of the announcement.

“Once again the government has made a major announcement late on Friday and what we know so far is that the government has only just started to figure out what industry, group’s like Taxed Out and the Coalition have been saying for months,” Mr Guy said.

The State Government did not respond to Star’s calls for further comment.

The draft GAIC legislation is available for public comment on the State Government’s website www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/ planning until Monday 2 November.

In response, a State Government spokesman said:

“The Brumby Labor Government is committed to planning growth better and

through our consultation are committed to getting the expansion of our urban growth boundary correct, given the unprecedented growth that Melbourne is undergoing.

“The liability to pay GAIC will generally be triggered by once of three events, and will be triggered by whichever event comes first: (1) sale/transfer of land, (2) subdivision, or (3) building permit for major building works.

“Aside from program of the consultation held to date, Government is writing to all affected land owners and stakeholders to inform them of the changes and release of draft legislation and how they can comment. We will also be running further information sessions.”