Rates rise protest

Bathurst residents rallied in Kings Parade on September 7, 2023, to protest the proposed rates rise.

Transcript

00:00 My name's Sophie Wright, I'm here on behalf of Figure It Out BRC and we're at Kings Parade

00:05 just opposite the Bathurst Council Chambers and we're here today for a peaceful public

00:10 protest where the community's coming together and saying no to Bathurst Regional Council

00:17 on this proposal of a 70% rate hike.

00:20 For the past couple of weeks I have had so many emails and messages from people in the

00:25 Bathurst area begging for, I guess, my help in trying to support this great cause because

00:32 a lot of the people who have written to me are petrified.

00:37 They're petrified that if this rate rise of 70% goes through that a lot of them don't

00:43 know if they'll be able to afford to live here anymore.

00:50 I live here too so it's definitely going to, you know, the cost of living is already so

00:56 high so living here, seeing people every day down the street, knowing first hand the impact

01:04 that cost of living has had on people of Bathurst and if this goes ahead, the 70% how it's going

01:10 to leave people hanging, I just, you know, I had to be here and I'm here and I'm absolutely

01:17 blown away, not surprised but I'm just so happy to see so many people here because,

01:23 you know, we need to stop this and if anyone is at Council, any of the Councillors, I can

01:30 see a few of them here right now and I mean you can't ignore this, you'd have to be absolutely

01:35 toned deaf.

01:36 This is a great turnout and, you know, we can't let this go through.

01:43 Well, I'm actually a pensioner, an aged pensioner and we simply won't be able to afford to live

01:50 here if it goes up to 70% it's just crazy.

01:55 Well I think it's great to see the people coming together to stop this rate variation

02:02 because they're actually in a situation where they're overspending and been overspending

02:07 for a long time and they need to bring it under control.

02:10 Why I'm here is because I don't agree with the 68% increase in rates, we're pensioners,

02:17 if it goes up that much we just can't afford to live in Bathurst anymore, we'll just have

02:22 to pack up and move on.

02:24 Look, we're here today because we really object to such a huge rate increase at a time when

02:29 people are really struggling and trying to get over a really difficult period with COVID,

02:35 loss of business, loss of income, not only that I think the increase in cost of living

02:41 on top of, with a rate increase on top of that is just unmanageable, unreasonable.

02:46 Yeah, I'm just here being a pensioner, just want to know why this has all gone up like

02:54 that, it's a lot of money, it's going to affect me, being on a pension, and a lot of other

02:59 pensions as well.

03:02 I'm here to protest against how the council's trying to put up our rates, which is a bit

03:07 ridiculous as far as I'm concerned, especially when the GM takes a big pay rise.

03:12 Yeah, I just really don't think the rate rise is justified, they certainly haven't looked

03:17 at other methods and ways to save the money as yet, and they certainly haven't proved

03:23 why we need that such a huge increase, especially when we're already such a highly, such high

03:29 rate rises at the moment anyway.

03:31 [BLANK_AUDIO]