Page 1918 - Week 05 - Thursday, 5 May 2011
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Liberal government put in place more than 10 years ago—and which was abolished by the ACT Labor government. If the government listened to the other initiatives championed by Mr Smyth, our tourism industry may be in far healthier shape.
In ACTION, there is a listed loss in revenue of $4.381 million due to failing ticketing equipment. Once again, Canberrans are paying for Labor incompetence.
In our streets, the government has resurfaced 25 per cent less municipal roads than promised, and we have all seen the weeds choking our median strips and parks turning into jungles. Our recycling targets are going backwards. Waste to landfill has increased from 0.59 to 0.67 tonnes per capita.
We are falling behind in targets for housing: collection of rental arrears of $500 or more or four weeks or more fell short, from 90 per cent to 85 per cent.
Even after years of lobbying by the community legal services sector, and their existing in grossly unsuitable premises, there is still nothing in the budget for a community legal services hub.
The security upgrade at Bimberi Youth Justice Centre is as overdue as it is concerning, given the amount of agitating that the Canberra Liberals have had to do to get this issue taken seriously. Apparently, putting your fingers in your ears and going “la,la,la”’ was not considered helpful. However, despite Joy Burch’s reported disgraceful dismissal of this issue, we still hold grave, serious concerns about the management and safety of this facility.
Mr Speaker, there are other elements of this budget that we welcome. We support funding for disability services, but truly hope we do not have to go through the same trials and tribulations we went through to get this government to deliver on their promises, the way we did with kinship carers, for example.
Action is finally being taken to plan for the appropriate location of Emergency Services stations across the ACT. Again, it has been a long fight for us to get there. The ACT Ambulance Service will benefit from an additional $20 million over four years to employ 30 more ambulance officers, and the ACT Fire Brigade will receive $1 million to conduct two recruiting rounds during 2011-12.
Restoration of sportsgrounds at Isabella Plains and Charnwood is welcomed as an important part of the social and family fabric. We also welcome the Canberra Stadium upgrade and improvements to the Fairbairn Park motorsports facility.
However, for all these items, the aspect of this budget that deserves, indeed demands, more scrutiny, is the impact of 10 years of ACT Labor government on the cost of living for Canberra families. Last year in my budget reply I called on the government to include a cost of living analysis in the ACT budget. This government refused. Frankly, I am not surprised. Cost of living is becoming more and more of a concern for more and more families. And there is no doubt, after hearing from their latest focus groups, ACT Labor will now try to pay lip-service to this issue as well.
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