What authorities would have been granted an exemption to a rates cap, listed by the specific weather event or natural disaster the exemption would have been allowed for, had the proposed rates cap been in place for the last three years; if the Minister has received no such advice, has he requested any such advice; if not, why not?

Answer

Under the framework introduced in the Local Government (Rates Capping) Amendment Bill, decisions on type 1 exemptions to the council rates cap are made after advice from the independent central government regulator. As this regulator has not yet been established, I cannot answer the member's question, as the process for considering and deciding on exemptions is not yet established. I have also not asked officials to provide me with a list of authorities that may have been granted an exception for same the above reason.