Written by Bill Wight secretary of Coochiemudlo Island Business Association
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| The Access Tax is collected in ferry fares |
The Coochiemudlo Island Business Association (CIBA) is outraged to uncover the shocking reality that Redland City Council is imposing what amounts to an Access Tax on residents living on Moreton Bay Islands. This hidden levy, buried within ferry fare collections, is unfairly targeting island communities like ours, and it’s time we take a stand.
Russell Jackson, president of CIBA, expressed his disbelief, stating, "Every house on Coochiemudlo Island is paying around $500 annually just for the privilege of accessing their homes. This Access Tax is on top of already exorbitant council rates—the highest in Southeast Queensland—making this burden even more unbearable. Residents on the Southern Moreton Bay Islands, such as Russell and MacLeay, face an Access Tax of $150 per household."
Mr. Jackson pointed out the stark injustice, explaining, “Island residents are being unfairly charged to fund the ferry terminals our ferries land at. You don’t see mainland residents paying for bus terminals or getting billed for the roads leading to their driveways. This is an outrageous double standard.”
He continued, "On the mainland, you pay a bus fare that covers the cost of running the bus. On the islands, however, our ferry fares are not just covering the cost of the ferry service but also the terminals. Essentially, island residents are paying for both the transportation and the infrastructure, unlike mainland residents. It’s simply not fair."
The situation has reached a tipping point with the ferry operator announcing that they can no longer shoulder the $249,000 annual fee demanded by the Council. This fee, which has been climbing steadily each year, is pushing the operator to refuse to renew the contract when it expires in December. This revelation has exposed the Access Tax as a hidden cost passed onto island residents, collected through ferry fares, but ultimately ending up in the Council's coffers.
Bill Wight, an accountant and former mayor, shed light on the situation: “When the current operator took on the ferry run, the landing fees were just $24,000 per year. However, under Redland City Council's ‘full cost recovery’ policy, these fees have skyrocketed to $249,000 and are projected to hit $320,000. That’s a tenfold increase, making it impossible for any operator to sustain a viable business.”
Bill, who advocates for the user-pays principle, highlighted that the Council has fundamentally misunderstood its application. “User-pays works when there’s a clear and fair connection between the cost and the benefit. In this case, that connection is completely broken. The ferry terminals on the islands are the equivalent of bus terminals and roads on the mainland, which no mainland resident is asked to pay for directly. This makes the Access Tax a discriminatory and unjust burden on island residents.”
To illustrate the stark disparity, Bill provided a comparison:
This comparison shows just how deeply unfair this Access Tax is. It’s not just a ferry fare—it’s a hidden tax, a burden that mainland residents are not asked to bear.
Now is the time for action. We, the residents of Coochiemudlo Island and other Moreton Bay islands, must rally behind CIBA and demand that Redland City Council abolish this unjust Access Tax. Let’s expose this hidden levy for what it truly is and fight to protect our rights as residents.
Join us in this critical fight—stand with CIBA, spread the word, and make your voice heard. Together, we can put an end to this unfair Access Tax and ensure that our island communities are treated with the fairness and respect we deserve.
We have developed a website dedicated to taking this fight up and urge the community to support us and make their voices heard:
Go to www.StopTheAccessTax.Org
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