Communism is here - in Queensland. Thanks to Palaszczuk Labor Government & their Absentee rules for Queensland property owners.

No other State or Territory keeps tabs on your travel time abroad to charge you an annual double property tax - unless you are a foreign citizen (Vic & NSW only). QLD - Aussies are included.

Keep your trips short if you own a QLD property. The meter is running - get back before 6 months is up or else

PAY THE FINE OR DO THE TIME.

Journalist Des Houghton of the Courier Mail had an opinion article published 24 Nov 2018 titled 'Failures across health, education and transport suggest Labor Government is doomed'.

I have attached a copy of the article in PDF format in case you cannot view the article (could only screen grab the pages on phone). The link is here - I can read the article on my phone, but on a laptop it goes to the subscription page:

failures-across-health-education-and-transport-suggest-the-labor-government-is-doomed/news-story

From what I took from the article: Houghton delivers a scathing attack against the Palaszczuk Labor Government with its bad decisions, mismanagement and abuse of revenue.

The article mentions Queensland as having the worst unemployment rate and appalling record in building infrastructure as well. I would not be surprised if among other punitive measures, that Labor's 2017 Land tax & Absentee Surcharge amendments in May 2017 as well as its second round of changes to Land tax laws again in late 2017 has caused this.

Houghton's opinion is that Palaszczuk's government has peaked and may well be in decline.

He states Palaszczuk and Jackie Trad have "succeeded only in promoting the Bill Shorten/ACTU socialist gospel of victimhood, envy and division".
I believe this is the type of mindset that answers why Palaszczuk's has attacked 'Absentees' who are deemed 'rich' and therefore should be penalised with the massive taxes - i.e. the Land Tax & Absentee Surcharge.

Another interesting observation by Houghton was a literacy and numeracy report that was released by Labor on an NRL Grand Final weekend in an effort to hide those poor figures.
This demonstrates how the government avoids negative attention using smoke screens. It brings to mind the sneaky way Curtis Pitt glossed over the Absentee Surcharge in the 2017 Budget in an effort to also suppress/hide details so that most people would miss the details and the fact that Aussies were included in the Absentee definition.

Hopefully the Palaszczuk government is rapidly 'on the nose' by most Queenslanders by the next election. If Liberal wins the next QLD State election then there may be hope of legislation reform and the removal of these terrible taxes.

ARTICLE TEXT: 

Failures across health, education and transport suggest the Labor Government is doomed

November 24, 2018 12:53am
Des Houghton The Courier-Mail

YESTERDAY’S revelations we are paying $468 a year too much on our power bills will come as a hammer blow to working families. It’s also a hammer blow to the reputation of the Palaszczuk Government.

We reported customers were being “scammed” by state-owned power companies. The Government uses the power companies as a milch cow to pour $2.3 billion into Treasury coffers to featherbed the bloated public service.

ScoMo is right. The State Government’s failure to sell assets is to blame for high power prices and our woeful economic performance.

The PM told reporters state-owned Ergon had a monopoly in regional Queensland where exorbitant power bills were crippling primary producers and small businesses – and the families the ALP Government pledged to protect.

 Scott Morrison is not the first to point out Queensland is lagging behind NSW and Victoria. Queensland is an economic basket case and we have to sell lazy government assets to repair the deficit.
If Campbell Newman’s ill-fated 2015 election campaign had turned out differently, I’m sure the Cross River rail tunnel would have been completed by now and work would have started on the duplication of the M1 highway to the coast.

The profits from the sale of power utilities, ports and other public assets would have funded the work. Queensland Rail, too, should be broken up and sold.

I suspect no one other than union fat cats really cares about who owns power companies, ports, railways or highways.

Morrison’s warning to Queensland to repair its debt followed similar calls by the Infrastructure Association of Queensland. It said the state was unattractive to investors as it urged the political classes must not shut out future debate on electricity asset sales.

Right now Queensland is a political and social disaster as well. There comes a time in the life of every government when we ask ourselves whether it has been a success or a failure.

Has it met the expectations of the voters? Has it provided safe and speedy hospital care and do the trains run on time?

  
Has the Government been able to reassure parents their children will progress to high school and university with the necessary literacy and numeracy skills?

Has the Government been able to cushion working families from soaring power and fuel prices? Has it been able to stem the rise of violent assaults, house break-ins and car thefts? And has the Government been open and accountable?

Does the Government operate independently without the interference of forces outside Parliament? Does it operate cronyism rules to enrich the groups who fund it?

Has the Government succeeded in creating the right commercial environment for business to prosper and create jobs? Does it hide dubious expenditure behind “commercial in confidence” masks?

If we look at the evidence dispassionately in all these areas we can only conclude that the Government of Annastacia Palaszczuk, now a year into its second term, has been an unmitigated failure.
It has flunked every test one could devise to mark a successful government.

We may not even see it yet, but I suspect the Government led by Palaszczuk has peaked, and may already be in decline. It can only wave rainbow flags of distraction for so long.
  
Our unemployment rate is the worst in the nation. The state’s record in building infrastructure has been appalling, and it is in hock to unions who openly defy the law.

And please don’t read this as an attack on Palaszczuk the woman. She doesn’t offend me at all; it’s her government that stinks like cheap cologne.

Under Labor, the State Government has veered sharply to the Left. Palaszczuk and her deputy Jackie Trad have succeeded only in promoting the Bill Shorten/ACTU socialist gospel of victimhood, envy and division. It’s a doctrine that appeals to the leaners and their media cheer squad.

Our state schools missed every performance target across literacy and numeracy.
The Government tried to hide the official report, and others, by releasing them on NRL Grand Final weekend.

State-sponsored union gouging persists. State electricity workers who can earn up to $206,000 a year get double pay if it rains and their clothes get wet. Seriously.

While the timetables are still in a mess with services cut, Queensland Rail drivers can take home more than $210,000 thanks to generous overtime payments.

Deliberate understaffing is to blame and the State Government refuses to pull the rail unions into line.
Investigator Phillip Strachan’s excellent report to Parliament in January last year said one of the “underlying issues” that caused the timetable meltdown was “Queensland Rail preferring to operate with a 5 to 10 per cent undersupply of train crew, driven largely by a practice of providing overtime opportunities”.

In reality the job of train driver should barely exist at all. Automated trains work perfectly safely in the US, Europe and Asia.

Meanwhile, the Palaszczuk Government is riddled with contradictions when it comes to sleaze. It moved quickly to expel elected members in councils accused of corruption, yet turns a blind eye to union thugs convicted of unlawful strikes and trespass. And several ministers are under an integrity cloud.

There was worrying news in the latest health performance data with nearly every hospital in Queensland failing to meet benchmarks for emergency care and surgeries.

 “Bed block” means ill children are being turned away at Lady Cilento, the name by which our public children’s hospital will forevermore be known.

Shamefully, not one hospital and health service met the 25-day median wait time for elective surgery last financial year, with some blowing out by hundreds of days. The median wait time for surgery in the central west region was a shocking 259 days – its target is 25 days. It’s a far cry from the Newman government days when Lawrence Springborg was health minister.

In 2015 we had the best elective surgery waiting times in the country with an average of 27 days.
Shadow health spokeswoman Ros Bates listed other problems in Health she said show a system in crisis.

Ambulance “ramping” was back and there are fears of more cutbacks to regional maternity services. And the state has yet to fully explain how four children were given cancerous tissue from the tissue bank.

To escape from the sweaty city, Brisbane families traditionally head to the beach for a bracing surf and a beach picnic. I tried it the other day. Because of a small prang somewhere, the highway had become a parking lot.

We did get there more than two hours later to notice the outlaw motorcycle gangs were back.
By now, many Queenslanders will be deeply regretting they did not give Newman a second term.

Negative repercussions Labor's policies - refundable franking credits removal

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald today (20 Nov 2018) written by journalist Colin Kruger, outlines the negative repercussions behind Federal Labor government's plan to remove refundable franking credits on share dividends.

The article highlights the fact that this Labor proposal will affect self funded retirees by wiping out a substantial amount of their retirement income.

This is yet again another example of Labor policies that fail to care about the consequences of their introduced legislation.

Poor returns elsewhere are forcing retirees to invest into riskier investments.

This is where a parallel can be drawn with the QLD Land Tax & Absentee Surcharge to reveal yet another deplorable Labor legislation that is devastating self funded retirees.  The taxes are extremely punitive and create bills totally disproportionate to what a resident staying in Australia would be paying.

In the same vein, Labor try to justify the removal of franking credits as it "mainly benefits millionaires who don't pay income tax".  This mindset is exactly what Labor claim about Absentees - we are all apparently rich as well.  A 'Robin Hood' tax.

QLD Labor are ruining lives for a mere $20- $30 Million in taxes, which State wide is not huge - unnecessary unjustified greed.  And those taxes (thefts) to be likely wasted on things absolutely useless.

Don't get me wrong though, it is not only Labor doing wrong to its Australians  - Federal Liberal under Turnbull/Morrison regime have also created huge grief to those who are offshore and become non-residents - their proposed removal of CGT exemption for Primary Residence properties - causing massive anxiety and uncertainty in a falling market what to do - with the talk that the Bill may not pass.  The ATO doesn't even know exactly how the legislation works and several accountants cannot concur on the interpretations. There is a lot of confusion around this drafted Bill.  it is causing many to already be losing money on sales/withdrawals from sale, selling in a downturn, etc, with June 2019 deadline approaching.


Federal Liberal's justification was that it is part of overall strategy to avoid the housing bubble.  That is well and truly happening now and it is falling dangerously fast - towards economic collapse.  And it has nothing to do with non-residents.  Time for Morrison to withdraw this Bill and stop causing suffering.

Time for these governments to stop meddling in investment assets with legislation passed by their predecessors. 

Link to article:

it-s-not-their-money-retirees-vent-anger-at-labor-dividend-tax-plan

Things are looking very bleak now - property market values falling nationwide other than a few pockets here and there. Queensland is not immune it seems as well with signs of problems there as well. Very low auction clearance rates.
The contagion is spreading with the media (online, paper, TV and radio) just being totally saturated with negative news that is self-fulfilling. It is almost hourly being reported.

In my circumstances - I feel like I am a complete slave to Queensland now. I cannot sell my property (which would unshackle me from the chains of their taxes) as I would be set for a massive loss (bought & renovated less than 2 years ago) if I sold now based on recent property appraisals - seeing me potentially broke/living very frugally in my later years of retirement, needing to eventually go onto the pension and social housing to live in misery. Then I can be a burden to the tax payer! Thanks Palaszczuk. Labor can take money off me now, but by sending me to the financial wall they will have to support me till I die.

Now I cannot stay overseas long term as per my retirement plans - I have had to come back to avoid the next annual round of the severe Land Tax & Absentee Surcharge. Living out of a suitcase and unsure where to go and what to do. But the cost of living in Australia for me as a medically retired self funded retiree is also too excessive to live. I am caught in a Catch 22. Unable to live life on my terms. A Slave to the QLD State.

I am sure my issues can resonate with others with similar problems. Even those with very different issues - we are all affected in so many negative ways.

I recently sent a letter via email for the attention of Premier Palaszczuk. In my letter I outlined the special treatment granted to a Queensland property owner deemed an Absentee, whereby, although he did not meet the employment criteria of being an Absentee, he was able to be granted an exemption.

As a result I outlined my dire circumstances and although not meeting the exemption criteria either, I requested to be granted an exemption as well.

The Premier's office claimed that it was the area of the Deputy Premier Jackie Trad's office to deal with this matter.

But, the Deputy Premier then referred it to the Office of the State Revenue to respond instead. The Commissioner of State Revenue 'Elizabeth Goli' was tasked to respond to my letter.

Yesterday I received a reply letter. My request for exemption was denied.

In the OSR Commissioner's response she stated, "You have referred to the circumstances of another taxpayer who advised you that he was granted an exemption based on his personal circumstances, notwithstanding that he did not meet the requirements for an exemption. Whilst I cannot comment on the affairs of particular taxpayers, as the Commissioner of State Revenue, I am both obliged and committed to administering land tax in accordance with the Act. Where the Act provides for an exemption, this exemption will only be extended to those taxpayers who satisfy the specified legislative criteria. This ensures the legislation treats taxpayers equally, despite the variety of circumstances experienced by the individual taxpayer."

As you can see, by referring the letter to the OSR Commissioner, Premier Palaszczuk was able to abdicate her responsibility to respond to this request, to someone who does not have the power to grant exemptions and therefore can only state that they can only abide by the Act.

The Premier would of course find it uncomfortable to have to respond directly to such a request as she will be forced to outline why there was special treatment granted to someone. This may of course reveal that she has acted illegally if there is no provision to allow such exemption.

If there has been one known exemption, who else has been granted an exemption as well that is not entitled to according to the Land Tax Act?

I intend to respond, insisting on the Premier's response as well as referring this to the Ombudsman as a complaint.

I also believe that there should be an immediate inquiry into determining who has been granted an exemption, despite not being entitled to it.

My issues are: If there is special treatment being given to individuals, then why are they getting special treatment? Who are they? Are there conflicts of interest and/or linked associations to colleagues, friends or family members of the Labor Government?

We are all suffering from this horrendous double tax, which should be removed anyway. But I will not allow the government to conveniently 'pass the buck' when it comes to questions that could cause embarrassment and repercussions. We need to be all treated fairly.

If there is a provision beyond the Land Tax Act for exemption then we all need to know about it.

In my case, they think they can conveniently shirk responsibility to a bureaucrat of the OSR and a referral to Lifeline so as to cover their bases. Very disappointing. Like I have experienced in the past fighting another bureaucratic organisation, their strategy is to 'Stall, Starve, Suspend and Settle' - trying to wear you down until you give up and go away with any resolution in the complainant's favour as the very last resort.

Constitutional Law handled by QLD State Crown Law Office - representing the State

The Crown Law office in QLD deals with Constitutional Law and the legality of laws passed in QLD Parliament. They represent the State of QLD.

They have posted examples of legal challenges made against Acts passed in QLD.

Please see link below.

Crown Law QLD State link

Submission to Constitution Law Office Attorney General's Department

Here is the letter I have completed for submission to the Senior Counsel - Office of the Constitution of Law Attorney General's Department.  Acknowledgement to Facebook Group posters who already submitted their letters and provided copies in threads.  

________________________________________________

Dear Senior Counsel,

I request for you to refer to enclosed annexures outlining my dire circumstances as a direct consequence of the Queensland Land Tax and Absentee Surcharge amendments introduced by the Queensland Labor Government under the command of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. I am at my wits end and extremely desperate to seek intervention by the Commonwealth to deem this amended legislation unconstitutional and therefore unlawful.

This amended legislation was announced in the May 2017 budget and made retrospective to back capture absentees (as defined in the Queensland Land Tax Act) from July 1, 2016.

Uniquely, unlike any other other State in Australia that has implemented absentee surcharges, Labor decided to include Australian citizens in the definition of an Absentee, hence affecting people like me and others who own and hold a property in Queensland, who for myriads of reasons are overseas for more than six months of a financial year.

Not being an expert in the area of Constitutional Law, I apologise in advance for not being across the legislation in whole with the relevant nuances and complexities therein. But I wish to draw attention to the Queensland Land Tax Act and how this law has been implemented contrary to the Australian Constitution.

In essence, I believe that me and all others subjected to these taxes are being discriminated against and being treated unfairly and unjustly by the Queensland legislation. Referring to Section 117 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, it is explained in an overview section on page xiii,

“Section 117 prohibits the Parliament of a State from discriminating against non-residents of that State. It provides, in effect, that a resident in, say, Victoria shall not be subject to any discrimination or disability in, say, Queensland unless the person would also be subject to that disability or discrimination as a resident of Queensland.”

I am hoping that this explanation includes extending that to the ‘non-residents’ who are also outside Australia at the time. If absentees can be included then this legislation is unfairly discriminating against them. Absentees are:

• Subjected to a much higher Land Tax rate than residents – which is calculated for absentees at a reduced threshold (from Land Valuation starting at $600,000 for residents, down to $350,000 for non-resident/absentees) and;

• Are subjected to an Absentee surcharge added on at 1.5% from threshold of $350,000.

Absentees are also subjected to the same range of numerous taxes, rates, fees and other running costs of holding a property that provide revenue to State and Federal Taxes. This is more the case for Australian citizens who have more obvious interconnections with Australia (than non-Australian citizens – foreign citizens) with savings, Superannuation, re-investments in Australia, financial supporting family members in Australia, etc.

The combined Land Tax and Absentee Surcharges well and truly exceed what a non-absentee resident would be paying in taxes. The amount of additional taxes charged to Absentees is totally disproportionate and grossly excessive.

In addition, the Land Tax and Absentee Surcharge are indexed to increase at the same percentage rate alongside increasing Land Valuations conducted and assessed annually by the QLD Department of Natural Resources and Mines.

The Queensland 2017 May budget was announced by Labor Treasurer at the time Curtis Pitt.

I refer to extracts quoted in the Brisbane Times news article titled, 'I would never have invested into Queensland property' by reporter Felicity Caldwell published online on 18 July, 2018:

• The budget papers say: "Absentee owners benefit from a high standard of services and infrastructure delivered and maintained by a broad range of taxes. The surcharge will ensure absentee owners of land make a further contribution. This will have no impact on Queensland residents.”;

• A government spokeswoman said it was Queensland’s longstanding position that absentees were subject to higher rates of land tax to account for the fact they were “generally not subject to the range of taxes used to deliver the high-quality services and infrastructure that ultimately contribute to growth in Queensland property values”. 

“These rates apply to people who do not ordinarily reside in Australia, including a person for more than six months ending on June 30, however there are also a number of exemptions for people working overseas,” she said.

These explanations to justify the amended Land Tax and Absentee Surcharge are flawed in that:

i) Absentees ARE generally subjected to the same range of taxes that non-absent residents are subjected to. I have outlined the range of taxes absentees are already paying. The only additional taxes I can think of that may not be collected by the Queensland Government would be for perhaps transport costs (whether that is public or private transport vehicle registration and relevant insurance whereby there is GST collected and whether or not the absentee uses those services in Australia anyway – their choice that should not even be part of the scrutiny used by government to determine if absentees pay enough tax), additional utility charges (electric, water, internet, telephone) that collect GST and local tax. However, absentees that have family members residing in their homes or are renting out investment property/ies would have tenants paying for those utilities, albeit connection rates and their subsequent taxes being borne by the absentee. There are several absentees as well – for instance Fly-in, Fly-out workers and periodic travellers, or who have family members still residing in their homes who would not disconnect services, would have vehicles registered and paying insurance as well.

ii) Absentees are paying additional taxes by way of the Land tax and Absentee Surcharge that well and truly grossly exceed any additional ‘ranges of taxes’ that they ‘may’ not be paying in their absence. The ‘generally not subjected to’ part of their rhetoric is a total falsehood used to hoodwink the Queensland public into buying their justification.

iii) Queensland Labor would be unable to provide evidence of the range of taxes that absentees are purportedly not paying in their absence that justifies the taxes that should only be aligned anyway to property – not to other tax revenue. I believe it is discriminatory for Labor to scrutinise what taxes an absentee may have been paying if in Australia instead. It is the democratic right for every citizen to spend their money how they deem fit and not be placed under the microscope of a government body to deem if they do or do not pay enough taxes, use particular services and utilities and spend their money in certain ways.

iv) Absentees may also reside in other Australian States and Territories outside Queensland, but own and hold a property in Queensland, therefore when in Australia any additional taxes being paid would be to the State/Territory that they reside in – on top of what they already pay in Queensland. The same applies of course for Queensland residents who own properties in other States and Territories in Australia who also do not pay additional taxes in those jurisdictions.

v) If a Queensland Australian citizen resident owning a property/ies in another Australian jurisdiction were to be absent for 6 months or more from Australia – those jurisdictions do NOT apply an Absentee Surcharge and increased rate of Land Tax. There is no Absentee surcharge for Australian citizens other than in Queensland. This is discriminatory and an unfair revenue gathering advantage taken by the QLD government.

vi) The ‘high quality services and infrastructure’ contributing to growth in Queensland properties is location specific. There would be many Queensland properties that will not benefit from infrastructure and services by ways of capital growth, because they are not in allocated catchment areas benefiting from that development and those services. This is a generalised comment that should not be used to warrant another excuse to impose these additional taxes. Regardless, the revenue collected by Queensland government was already pre-2017 budget being collected via the most relevant taxes (Commonwealth, State, Council).

vii) The ‘number of exemptions’ to the taxes are limited to only a small percentage of people who have specific employment criteria. Furthermore, there was no advance warning of this legislation pre-budget - so people already working overseas not meeting the criteria have been discriminated against as well. The stated undefined ‘numbers’ of exemptions being referred to would be insignificant compared to total absentees. The exemptions also fail to incorporate many circumstances whereby absentees through no fault of their own were already absent prior to the retrospective legislation being passed, having already significantly financially outlaid and committed to overseas movements and activities.

viii) It also fails to recognise those who for various reasons were and are unable to return within the 6 month ‘curfew’ period or who had already pre-booked/pre-planned such periods offshore. There are those who have for example (these examples are but a mere few of what would be an exhaustive list of possibilities but demonstrates real life issues):

- Are caring for sick loved ones or who are medically unfit unable to return themselves – or do so at their own peril;

- Have complex legal arrangements that are preventing them from returning on time;

- People suffering financial hardship and unable to return in time;

- People interned/imprisoned and hence unable to return within the 6 months;

- Retirees on long holidays already pre-booked and paid for, several already part way through their trips when the legislation was announced with no forewarning;

- People seeking rehabilitation overseas due to medical and psychological reasons;

- Employees who wish to take Long Service Leave, to take a career break from their jobs and travel and enjoy a period of life overseas. Some already overseas at the time when this legislation occurred and hit retrospectively too; 

- Or others taking up education pursuits or contract work – opportunities that could benefit Australia with improved skills and knowledge.

ix) What the legislation in effect creates is a massive disadvantage to all Queensland property holders who wish to take advantage of education and employment opportunities overseas. Their interstate partners in the rest of Australia now have the distinct advantage of not being bound to 6-month ‘prison sentences’ to remain in Australia and hence able to apply for and take up those opportunities. This is blatant discrimination against Australian citizens owning property in Queensland who do not meet the limited exemption criteria. Queensland property owners therefore are more inclined to forego such opportunities due to the excessive and unsustainable Land Tax and Absentee Surcharge rates for absentees.

x) Restricting the free passage and movement of Australian citizens to work, live, travel in countries outside Australia from time to time or for parts of their life is a democratic right that should not be subjected to punitive measures to punish you (which in effect it is doing). This is what Queensland Labor under the rule of Premier Palaszczuk has implemented. It does not ring true of a Democratic constitution, rather a Communist one. This is a very dangerous precedent that has been allowed to slip in, quite surreptitiously at the time (the Treasurer Pitt did not elaborate much about and the media failed to properly recognise the new amendments also affecting Australian citizens), that was made retrospective as well.

xi) There were no provisions to start the amendments to property owners holding past a particular date. The Human Rights of individuals have been taken away – with economic hardship with financial and psychological devastation as an impact. I do not understand why the Scrutiny committee that I believed would have been appointed to review this legislation allowed it to be passed in the first place. It is an atrocity of justice.

In my circumstances I believe I have been discriminated against, have been unfairly treated, have had my Human Rights violated by a government of Australia, have and still am suffering severe financial and psychological distress – damage caused by Queensland Labor government. I am now being forced to live in and out of a suitcase and the only option available to me is to split my time between Australia and overseas 6 months at a time, which is completely disrupting, costly, unrealistic long term and ruinous to my personal disability rehabilitation and convalescing goals. I am rapidly deteriorating in my health as a result.

The Queensland Labor government’s amended legislation is causing more harm than good. The fallout from this legislation is still not quantifiable in total yet, but it is obvious there are terrible outcomes for most people caught in this legislation. Over a year on and the victims are already piling up. It is only a matter of time there will be statistics – suicides as a result.

Disturbingly I must note that correspondence I received from the Property Council of Australia was that they have received communication from Queensland Labor who seemed to think that as an absentee we were therefore considered ‘rich’ and as such deserved to have to pay. In other words – to be punished.

This reveals a severe ignorance as to the various circumstances surrounding absentees, who are on the whole, not rich. And regardless of anyone’s wealth, this should not be a reason to implement such taxes, especially when the budget comments stipulated it was to ensure absentees paid taxes they generally were not subjected to (which of course is false as well).

I respectively request that action is taken to determine the legality of the amended Land tax and Absentee Surcharge legislation contained in the Queensland Land Tax Act as of 2017. I submit that it is unconstitutional. I request that if deemed unconstitutional that legal proceedings are commenced to deem the legislation illegal to be removed forthwith. I will stand as a witness if required.

I thank you Sir/Madam Counsel in advance for your time and assistance in this matter.

Link to the Attorney General's Department in Canberra: 

Attorney General's Department Canberra link  

UPDATE 20 JAN 2019:

I have just received a response from the Office of Constitutional Law Canberra. Unfortunately it is not good news. The response outlines that Queensland is able to exercise certain autonomy - Land Taxes being one of those administered by the State.  The other issue is that the Constitution "does not apply to people who are not residents of Australia or who are subject to disabilities or discrimination while they are out of Australia by the state of their residence when they are in Australia".  

If the person returns and resumes residency, but is then charged the Absentee Surcharge and Land Tax bills whilst back in Australia.  Is that an argument for discrimination under those circumstances? 

Many others do not have the circumstances that permit them to return twice a year to fulfill the non-absentee criteria.  It is disgraceful that Queensland is able to apply such punitive taxes.

Here is a copy of the letter: 

Dear Mr Lehn

Thank you for your letter of 4 November 2018 regarding the Land Tax and Absentee Surcharge amendments introduced in Queensland. I also refer to your inquiry submitted on this department’s website on 30 December 2018 following up on your letter.

I appreciate the time you have taken to bring this matter to our attention and apologise for the delay in replying.

Neither the Attorney-General nor officers of this department provide legal advice to the public. If you have legal concerns about any particular laws or have legal queries, you may wish to seek independent legal advice. However, the following general comments may be of assistance.

The Australian Constitution establishes a federal system of government, under which powers are distributed between the Commonwealth and the states. This arrangement provides states with a large degree of autonomy over their own affairs. The land tax laws about which you are concerned are state laws. As such, your concerns regarding their operation are best directed to the Queensland government as you have done.

You refer to section 117 of the Constitution. In its terms, section 117 prevents a resident of a state from being subject to certain disabilities or discrimination in any other state. It does not apply to people who are not residents of Australia or who are subject to disabilities or discrimination while they are out of Australia by the state of their residence when they are in Australia.

Thank you again for bringing your concerns to our attention.

Yours sincerely

David Lewis

Acting General Counsel (Constitutional)

Office of Constitutional Law