Page 3205 - Week 10 - Thursday, 16 September 1993
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business proprietors of service stations as being the problem, small businesses supposedly ripping off the people of Canberra. The Government's solution to this was to bring in an independent operator to compete with our existing small businesses.
Now we know what the Government has really done. What this Government has done is raise the price of petrol themselves. The hypocrisy of this decision is unbelievable. So today, Madam Speaker, I give clear notice that the Liberal Party will have no choice but to oppose this insidious rise in the fuel franchise and that we will vote against it in the Assembly by way of disallowing the regulation. This extra tax is set to raise $1m. We in the Liberal Party believe that there are any amount of fairer and more equitable measures to save that $1m. Changing the siting of the hospice to Calvary Hospital is one example that comes very readily to mind, and there are plenty more. I am sure that my colleagues will tell the Government all about them when they speak.
Not only is this Government charging you more when you park too long anywhere, regardless of whether it is at the hospital or the law courts, but they are also charging you for moving too fast as well. Yes, we will see the introduction of speed cameras. The guardians of the true believers, the Labor Party, those opposite, expect to collect 10 per cent more this year from fines of all kinds. Instead of working out the inefficient mess they have created, they intend to suck more out of Canberrans by way of fines to cover up their mess.
If you catch a bus, you will be paying 6 per cent more for your fares, on average. The forward estimates show that this is due to increase again next year. Patronage of ACTION buses has dropped again. Still only 4 per cent of Canberrans are using ACTION for work travel. Yet this budget had nothing in it to assist those who most need to rely on public transport, that is, the aged and the disabled. Where is the social justice in that, Ms Follett? There is so much this Government could have done to reform ACTION, to make it more efficient, more attractive, and to stop it running at the massive loss that it does every year. But no, this Government is afraid of making the hard decisions, afraid of the unions. And who suffers? The aged and the disabled. Once again, Ms Follett, where is the social justice you love so dearly to talk about?
If you own a home you are paying more rates than ever before - 9 per cent, or $55, a year more, on average. To show how this affects real people, people out there in the community, I have a letter from an older lady in Hughes, who wrote to me after she got her rates notice in July. She told me that she had a great deal of difficulty meeting her greatly increased rates and heating payments and she was concerned about how much interest she would pay in the "die now, pay later" scheme. I will quote briefly from her letter to give you some idea of what she said:
There are many people of my age and circumstances who have tried very hard to remain independent in their own homes, but we are finding this increasingly difficult and distressing. Like many of us, my home is a very small, ordinary and ex-government house with no extension or fancy trimmings and no elaborate landscaped grounds ... getting old in this town is no pleasant thing, I assure you.
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