Central Government has changed, in an underhand way, the system by which local government is funded. Until recently, sewerage schemes received 100% funding from the Department. Now, such schemes would be lucky to get 70% or 75% funding and the rest must be sourced locally. This leads to local authorities seeking higher development charges from the most vulnerable group in our society. We should be doing more to help people onto the property ladder. This flies in the face of the pronouncements about helping first-time buyers from the Government in recent years. The advent of the development charge runs contrary to the stated view of the Government.