2018-03-06 S&O Agenda - Attachment 1 to Item 2 - Public Interest Test Report

Noosa Council - Public Interest Test Report: Proposed Local Law No. 7 (Waste Management) 2017
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                                 service arrangement and they have asked for an alternate recycling option from
                                 the private sector, Council officers have enforced these local laws upon that
                                 business owner and mandated they remove the private operators bin or cage from
                                 that business. Where the local business has asked Council for a refund for their
                                 recycling services as they wished to use a private company Council has denied
                                 that request advising the client they must pay for the service regardless if they use
                                 it or not via their rates notices. This supports the submission that the proposed
                                 local law is not consistent with a successful CRS.

                        (d)       The public benefit must be for the general public and the Queensland market as a
                        whole. No such benefit is identified and indeed there is a significant potential public
                        detriment in respect of reduced competition, reduced incentive to innovate, stymy
                        technological development, no economic benefits to the wider community, and
                        potentially Jong-term dislocation of the waste and recycling services industry that will be
                        the result of the proposed local law.

                        3.4      Violation of the competitive neutrality principle

                        (a)       Under section 43 of the Local Government Act 2009, a local council conducting a
                        business in competition with the private sector should not enjoy a net advantage over
                        competitors only because the entity is the public sector. The competitive neutrality principle
                        applies if the public benefit outweighs the costs of implementation.

                        (b)      For the reasons set out in section 2.2 above, there is no public benefit in enacting
                        the proposed local law (insofar as it relates to 'waste' and regulating the disposal of 'waste'
                        at waste facilities).

                        (c)      The imposition of a mandatory waste collection levy over businesses in designate
                        d areas, without an opt-out provision, will provide the Council with a competitive advantage
                        because no commercial provider can charge a levy to a potential customer, even when the
                        customer's preference is not to use the supplier's service.

                        (d)      In this respect, we note that in June 2012, in response to a complaint from WRIQ,
                        the Queensland Competition Authority found provisions similar to the proposed local law
                        that were already enacted by Council and that it violated the competitive neutrality principle.
                        Council maintains that violation in 2017.

                        (e)      Notably, the Council has not considered the use of tax and subsidy mechanisms
                        as an alternative method to achieve their stated objectives.

                        3.5      Concerns about the consultation process