Page 2449 - Week 07 - Thursday, 4 August 2022
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an upper house to provide additional scrutiny. The lukewarm response from this Labor-Greens government seems to indicate that they are only interested in talking the talk when it comes to integrity. But as we all know, and as we saw only this morning, actions speak louder than words. It is imperative for all of us in this place to ensure the highest levels of integrity, transparency, accountability and probity.
That is why today I am calling on Labor and the Greens to take integrity in government seriously and commit to commissioning a review similar to Queensland’s. There is so much murkiness and so many closed-door decisions that a wholesale review of integrity in government will go some way to restoring much-needed confidence and trust for the Canberra community—trust that has been eroded to its lowest ebb under this Labor-Greens government. This situation must change.
I believe everyone should have the opportunity to live in Canberra. For years I would always hear friends, colleagues and constituents tell me that they moved to Canberra for many reasons—mostly for work or to raise a family and because housing was affordable, neighbourhoods were welcoming and our schools were the best in Australia. They moved to Canberra because commute times were short, we had access to green spaces and the cost of living was manageable.
Sadly, many have told me in recent times that those reasons are fast disappearing. The main reason, the reason that I hear the most, is Canberra’s housing crisis. For months, this Labor-Greens government have rejected every single one of the Canberra Liberals’ calls to improve housing affordability and choice. They told us repeatedly that we were deluded, that we did not understand and that we were flat out wrong.
Only days ago, the Chief Minister did a stunning backflip in finally conceding that, yes, the ACT government does have a significant role to play in housing supply. He did not quite stick the landing, though; his grand pronouncement that there would be 30,000 new dwellings is baseless.
While there was some optimism at first, once we started looking at the “detail” in the new land release program—and I have to put “detail” in quotation marks here—it became clear that blocks to be released for standalone housing will actually be reduced by 51 this year. Over the next five years, the Chief Minister is actually planning to deliver an overall reduction of 17 dwellings. Is this the best effort of the Labor-Greens government in providing Canberrans with genuine choice when it comes to housing? Does the Chief Minister honestly believe that this will meet housing demand?
For all of the spending, for all of the debt, what is our community getting? Where has all of the money gone?
The Canberra Liberals believe in the opportunity for every Canberran to own their own home, if that is their wish, whether it is in a multi-unit apartment tower, a mid-density option like a townhouse, or a standalone house on a block with their own backyard. The Canberra Liberals believe that the ACT government should, and must, do everything in its power to support every Canberran to realise that opportunity if they want to strive for it.
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