General News
5 July, 2025
‘Green’ rates rebate ditched
A RATE rebate of up to 50 per cent for property owners who own nature reserves in the Douglas Shire has been terminated by the council.
Unusually, the five-member council voted 3-2 to rescind the ‘Rates Incentive for Conservation Policy’ introduced more than 20 years ago to encourage people to retain and plant native plants and preserve wildlife. Decisions are usually unanimous.
Mayor Lisa Scomazzon told the June 17 council meeting it might have been relevant a few years ago, but not today.
“I don’t believe that this policy should be used by not-for-profit organisations outside of Queensland who buy residential blocks with donations and grants and are then rewarded by paying less rates for planting trees,” she said.
“I will not support it because this council is not in a position where it can afford to be losing valuable rates on residential blocks of land that should be used for residential purposes.”
Cr Scomazzon said she was also concerned about the loss of valuable agricultural land for conservation purposes.
She said the council had not properly inspected the relevant properties to see if they were adhering to the policy.
But Cr Abigail Noli spoke in favour of keeping the rebate and she said axing the program sent the wrong message to tourists coming to see two World Heritage sites.
Cr Noli said any conservation measures were always appreciated.
She said with two World Heritage sites “right on our doorstep … we need to walk the walk and talk the talk”.
She said the savings (about $32,000) to council were “negligible”.
Cr Damian Meadows said many of the philanthropic organisations who bought the land did not reside in the shire, or even in the state – it was not their place of residence.
He said he would vote against the policy and a review was timely.
Cr Scomazzon, Cr Meadows and Cr Michael Rees voted to scrap the rate rebate, while Cr Noli and deputy mayor Roy Zammataro voted to retain it.
Earlier this year former Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch accused the Gondwana Rainforest Trust of “misleading donors by falsely claiming that land in the Daintree Rainforest is at risk of development”.
At the centre of the controversy is Lot 92 Cape Tribulation Road, a property the group is actively fundraising for and stating that it must be saved from destruction.
However, Douglas Shire Council has confirmed that the site is not at risk of development under any circumstances.
Gondwana Rainforest Trust chief executive officer Richard Christian said Mr Enstch was “factually incorrect”.
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