Page 1943 - Week 05 - Thursday, 5 May 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
described as the “Stradivarius of a space” for music performance. Year in and year out, through the Canberra International Music Festival, eminent people speak highly of the acoustics. Australia’s pre-eminent composer, Peter Sculthorpe, has described the Fitters Workshop as having the best acoustic quality for classical music in Australia. Yet this government has decided to deny the Australian music public, and music lovers, that acoustic quality.
This year’s budget carries $3.9 million for work to accommodate a visual arts organisation in that space. And it shows that the Chief Minister is only concerned with visual arts. This has been done with an abject lack of public consultation. Why would a government deny the people of Canberra, and the people of Australia, the right to have a say on the future of the Fitters Workshop if it is so widely regarded as having an outstanding acoustic for music?
Why would the government, as suggested yesterday in a letter to the editor, look such a gift horse in the mouth? Why would a government give a superb, historic, public facility to so few when it could be given to the whole community? Or is it that Jon Stanhope is simply a philistine and a redneck when it comes to the performing arts as opposed to visual arts?
Much has been said by Mr Seselja and Mr Smyth already in relation to the impact of this budget on Canberra families. I note that, when Mr Seselja tabled his “ACT Labor vs the family budget—The rise in cost of living under the ACT Labor Government”, it was pooh-poohed across the chamber and cast aside as a mere slideshow. But the figures show matters of real concern and in areas that I am particularly concerned about.
I draw your attention, Madam Assistant Speaker, to the issues in relation to water, where it shows that water prices so far, not including the price increase that was announced last week, have doubled, by more than 163 per cent, since 2001 and that the growth in the cost of water in the ACT over the last nine years has outmatched the growth in CPI by 98 per cent. In addition, we will see, on 1 July, a further 15 per cent increase in water costs and a seven per cent increase in waste water costs. This 15 per cent increase in water costs will mean that the cost of water has gone up by 200 per cent since the inception of the Labor Party in government in 2001.
There has been a lot said about the colour of this budget. There were people who said that it was a beige budget, in a sense implying that it lacked imagination or it lacked any real punch. But that is not true. Mr Seselja is right. The punch, the real kicker in this budget, is to the hip pocket of Canberra families, the Canberra families who are paying a 57 per cent increase in parking, a 200 per cent increase in water, an 11 per cent increase in childcare in the last two years. All of these things come on top of rates and charges, taxes and increased land costs. These are all a kicker for Canberra families.
It is a cynical budget that prepares us for a pre-election budget in 2012. It is one that sets up a memorial for Labor personalities. And it is one that makes commitments that should have been made years ago.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video