Page 3682 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 23 August 2011
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gained from this. But we know that following generations will experience severe hardship and miss out. This really is not a position I would have thought the Canberra Liberals wanted to espouse.
The cost of living is an interesting concept, typically couched in terms of dollars spent to support an average Canberran’s lifestyle. However, if we pause for a moment and think about what cost of living really means, we start to get a different view on this, and that is around the ecological footprint. We know that between 1998-99 and 2003-04, the ACT’s ecological footprint increased by 15 per cent, from 7.4 to 8.5 global hectares per capita. That is 17 per cent higher than the Australian average and far higher than global hectares per capita, the global average footprint, of 2.6 hectares.
We can see that we do need to take population into account. But in the ACT, with its population, we are using more than 13 times the area of the ACT in consumption. We certainly are living beyond our means and this really does need to be taken into account.
When we look at this issue of cost of living, we need to be looking clearly at what it is and what we want to achieve. Many people in the ACT are doing it tough, and I am not sure if it is the people who cannot choose the wine at dinner or have to order one less course. (Time expired.)
MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (4.09): Who would have thought that someone could have topped Katy Gallagher for insensitivity on people’s concerns about the cost of living? Meredith Hunter has managed to do it. Meredith Hunter managed to say that the cost of living and the cost of living pressures being felt by Canberrans are an “interesting concept”.
I would probably describe them differently. I would describe the cost of living pressures that Canberra families are facing as a genuine and real concern for people in this place. And they should be a genuine and real concern for people in this place, because they are a genuine and real concern to tens of thousands of Canberrans. It is not some academic, interesting concept. It is a real issue for real people who face real pressures, many of which are foisted on them by this Labor-Greens alliance.
We thought that the Foxtel comments from Katy Gallagher were insensitive—the “let them eat cake” style Foxtel comments from the Chief Minister. Now her partner in crime, Ms Hunter, has piped up and said that it is an interesting concept. She also said that Canberrans are living beyond their means, which I always find interesting advice. It is interesting advice coming from Meredith Hunter to say to the people in the suburbs that they have really got to get out of the car, as she gets from her inner north abode into her taxpayer-funded vehicle and drives down Northbourne Avenue to her taxpayer-funded car park. What rank hypocrisy to be saying: “You people are all living beyond your means. Don’t worry about us.” It is hypocrisy.
It is always people who are doing well who try and tell the people in the suburbs that they are living too well, that it is their fault, that they need to change their behaviours. How about looking at ourselves first? I do not tell Canberra families who live in the suburbs that they should get out of their cars. I recognise that they need their cars. I
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