Page 3380 - Week 11 - Thursday, 11 November 2021
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risen heroically to the task of doing whatever they can to fight this pandemic and to get back to normal, whatever that might be.
It has been, however, incredibly tough for our hospitality businesses, many of whom have had to completely close down during the period. Many of them have had to retool or redevelop their business models in order to keep going during the pandemic. Some of them have not yet reopened. Some of them will never reopen. Some have reopened to operate in a much smaller way than they once did.
I can give you one example in my electorate in Tuggeranong—a very popular cafe, Common Grounds at Gowrie. They have not yet reopened with dining in-house. For a range of reasons they are still only doing takeaway. Those reasons include lack of staff. That is related to international students, but it is a really complex mix at the moment, which Canberrans are doing their best to manage. Encouraging people to end up at their local watering holes is one way that we can help support those struggling businesses. Introducing free parking at night-time in our CBD would be a positive contribution to doing that. It would support the reopening of businesses and encourage people to patronise them.
Mrs Jones and Mr Gentleman were in the assembly back in 2015. I think the three of us—and perhaps some of the Assembly staff—were here. They may recall when night-time parking in the CBD was first introduced. That was in 2015, and during the estimates period. Mr Barr promoted much hilarity by comparing the cost of parking at night. He said:
The parking fees are not even likely to be part of the price of a bottle of sparkling mineral water at some of our high-end restaurants.
Of course, not all of us go to high-end restaurants; we might not be able to afford them. Many of my constituents cannot afford to go to high-end restaurants, and they cannot afford to buy high-end sparkling mineral water, either. I am not sure where the Chief Minister buys his mineral water or what type he purchases, but I think it is fair to say that he might be getting a raw deal if what he pays for a sparkling mineral water now is the equivalent of what he would be paying for night-time parking in the city.
These decisions are made by people who do not have to pay for night-time parking or even daytime parking. We in this place are very privileged that we do not pay for parking. It is easy for those opposite to tell people that they have to pay for parking because those opposite do not have to pay for it. They do not have to pay, but they expect everyone else to pay. When there were some complaints about it, government members made fun of those who have to pay and told them that it is just like paying for a bottle of sparking mineral water. It was pretty shameful.
The residents in my electorate of Tuggeranong live in one of the furthest areas of the ACT from the CBD. I really do not want to go into it, but we heard all about the debacle of the bus network changes in the year before last, 2019. Tuggeranong residents do not have the option of catching the bus home very often; they are a long way away. If you are a single woman, for example, you are probably not going to
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