There was only one storm louder than the southerly buster that broke Sydney’s heatwave on Tuesday night, and it came from inside the Northern Beaches Council chambers. As a motion to raise rates by up to 40 per cent was debated and narrowly approved, Mayor Sue Heins struggled to maintain decorum among the 200 protesters who filled the public gallery.
Following a short rally outside the chambers, objectors filled the auditorium and repeatedly interjected, shaking maracas and waving placards, leading Heins to demand silence within the first two minutes of the four-hour-long hearing and call for the meeting to be paused three times.
Protesters rally against a proposed 40 per cent rate rise in the northern beaches.Credit: James Brickwood
Those protesting the motion were critical of the rise, executives’ salaries, and the $173,000 resident survey they believe was misinterpreted by the council to justify the increase. According to council papers, 51 per cent of surveyed residents opted for a pegged rate increase of 10.7 per cent. Only 11 per cent voted for the 39.6 per cent rise that was successfully moved at the meeting.
Speaking before the meeting, two residents and pensioners, Christine Hennessy and Anne Ford, said they couldn’t see the reasoning behind such a significant rate rise that they think many in the community cannot afford.
“I’ve lived here my whole life,” Hennessy said. “We’ve been in our house for 44 years. And yes, of course, the house values increased, but to warrant 39.6% or whatever it is rate rise, I can’t see it,” said Hennessy.
Ford said that the cost-of-living crisis was squeezing household budgets and a rate rise could potentially push ratepayers over the edge.“I’d like to go to my energy company and say, ‘Can you decrease what I pay by 39.6%?’ Or go to Woolworths or Coles or Aldi or IGA and say, ‘Oh, can we put the price of groceries down, please?’”
Protesters gather outside the Northern Beaches Council meeting. Credit: James Brickwood
“People are struggling at the moment. The older people on the beaches who’ve been here for a long while on a pension, where will they fund 39.6% to suddenly pay into rates? And what do they get from it?”
Inside the meeting, James Brown, the Liberal candidate for Mackellar in the upcoming federal election, spoke against the motion. Brown introduced himself as a “resident” but was repeatedly interrupted by a member of the gallery demanding the candidate identify his political affiliation.
