Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

So the Local Government Conference is underway and the Government took advantage of it to talk down to councils like a stepdad telling off their stepson.  They’ve been told to reign in wasteful spending to keep their rates increase down. It'd be good if the government that is currently spending more than any other ever practiced what they preached.  But anyway, the Government is talking about bringing in rate caps.   Sounds good. A simple idea we can all understand, but will it work?  The fact is the idea is in place in Australia. Melbourne and Sydney have them, but individual councils can apply for exemptions. And in Melbourne it means that some councils have imposed 10% rates.   But they don’t have them in Brisbane, and Brisbane has the lowest rate increases in Australia.   So why is that? Successive councils have kept the debt low. They’ve had smart long term plans with cross-party support.   They have a suburbs first policy so that improvements are made where people actu