Page 3996 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 29 November 2022
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One of the other big drivers of rental unaffordability has been the skyrocketing rates under Mr Barr, who has to pay for the tram somehow. I was tagged in a LinkedIn post earlier today from an investor who posted a picture of a modest suburban house. He said: “Why the ACT has the worst rental affordability in the country, and here is the perfect example. This house”—a very modest house—“was rented for $600 per week. The ACT government collected $307 a week in land tax and the real estate agent’s management fee is $45 per week. So the wealthy landlord received $248 per week.”
Rental unaffordability and this cost of living crisis have been created entirely by the Labor-Greens government. If you had listened to many of the ideas that have been brought forward by this side of the chamber, it is possible we would not be in the position that we are in today—because whatever you are doing is not working.
So my message to Mr Rattenbury would be: don’t you dare come into this chamber and suggest that particularly rental affordability is on us, because it is not; it is on you. You have had 20 years at the wheel. You have been the skippers at the wheel for 20 years, and the Canberra Liberals have been bound and gagged and held hostage below deck—and somehow it is us! You have had 20 years of steering the Titanic and you have charted a course straight for the iceberg.
Valedictory
MR PETTERSSON (Yerrabi) (5.47): Another year nearly done and dusted. Like every year, I would like to end with some thankyous. I say to the good people of Yerrabi: thank you for your support throughout the year. It is an immense honour to serve you in this place, and I look forward to working hard for you next year, as I do every year.
To the wonderful rank and file members of ACT Labor and the mighty ACT trade union movement, I say: thank you for your hard work and support. You are the true believers. It has been a good year to be a Labor supporter. Hopefully, in 2023 we will have further reason to celebrate.
To all of the staff across the Assembly, I say: thank you—attendants, chamber support, cleaners, business support, committee secretariat, IT and broadcasting, Hansard, the library and the education office. The list goes on and on. You are all vital to the functioning of our democracy and parliament. I want to put on the record my gratitude for your service. There is probably a joke to be made about Work Safe here, but I will not be the one to do it.
To the staff in my office, Jasmine, Flynn, Samantha and Connor, I say: thank you. You each make it such a delight to come into the office each and every day. Jasmine and Connor have joined me this year, and they have both been a wonderful addition to the team. For both of them, this is their first political job. There is a daunting and steep learning curve, stepping into a staffing role, but I hope they have enjoyed the challenge as much as I have enjoyed helping them on their political journey.
Bringing new people into the team is often necessitated by someone leaving the team. This year I had Abby leave my office. Abby is, of course, like all of my staff, very
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