Time to Roam Magazine Issue 12 - December/January 2015 | Page 7

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upfront industry news

REGO RIP OFF: MOVE TO CUT COSTS IN NSW
NSW is a step closer to cutting
expensive caravan registration fees
in 2015, thanks in part to the efforts
of the Tamworth Caravan Club.
Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson has
lodged a petition with NSW Parliament
on behalf of the Tamworth club calling
on the state government to reduce
registration fees. The petition received
more than 11,000 signatures.
Club secretary Pam Wilson says residents
in Queensland can register their caravans
for 34 per cent of the cost in NSW, while in
Victoria rego costs are only eight per cent of
those in NSW for an average size caravan.
“We’re only a small club with 29
members but this issue came up a lot
in meetings. “We were sitting around in
happy hour and we thought, ‘right, instead
of sitting here bitching about this, let’s do
something about it,’ which is why we set up

the petition and had a go,” Mrs Wilson said.
“The petition was sent out through
different clubs but Tamworth did the hard
yakka and we are very proud and hope
we can get somewhere with this issue.”
Mrs Wilson says that weight tax, a
component of registration charges
is NSW is “the big killer”.
“What we want is for the costs of registering
caravans here to at least be brought into
line with the other states,” she said.
Mr Anderson said he was right behind
the Tamworth club’s campaign.
“I’m absolutely in favour of decreasing
registration costs and getting some
cross border parity in relation to
pricing,” the National Party MP said.
“We need to do is make it easier for
people who have worked hard all their
lives and are now enjoying some down
time travelling around Australia. The cost
of registration can be prohibitive.”
Mr Anderson said he’d discussed the issue

Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson

with NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay,
who’d welcomed the petition. Mr Gay is
considering a broad range of reforms
for the state’s light vehicle registration
scheme, including cutting the weight
tax for caravans. If accepted next year,
the change could see rego costs drop
by as much as 45 per cent.

MANAGER

THE

BY JENNIFER PERRY

BMS1230

Issue 12 Dec/Jan 2015

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