Page 5077 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 26 October 2011
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Measurements come down to millimetres, advertising is limited, permitted structures vary and language is vague.
For example, furniture must ‘create an interesting, lively appearance’. I can just imagine what a bureaucratic inspector might consider ‘interesting and lively’.
On one hand, furniture must not allow advertising to dominate. On the other, indeed in the very next line, sponsored advertising is permitted.
It is that kind of over-bureaucracy that has crept in and does affect these businesses. It does affect these businesses. I also wonder what the Greens’ policy, as stated by Ms Le Couteur, of banning outdoor heaters might do for outdoor cafes in Canberra. I wonder if the Greens told the small businesses and the cafe owners about their plans to ban outdoor heaters. Ms Le Couteur, of course, has been reported in the Canberra Times as saying that.
Indeed, we have seen, I think, Greens-dominated councils actually do that in some parts. We have actually seen them do that in parts. That is a classic Greens policy. It is the stated intention of the Greens’ planning spokesperson. It is the stated intention to ban outdoor heaters. Indeed, we have seen it in the Yarra council. They have imposed a $105 fee on restaurants and cafe owners who use outdoor heaters, suggesting that these businesses provide blankets instead. Ms Le Couteur, of course, wants them banned, going even further than the Greens-led council in Yarra.
Let us just consider what that might do for outdoor cafes in Canberra. How many cafes would rely on them for at least six months of the year? If you were doing breakfast in Canberra, we know that it can be cold in the morning at almost any time of the year. In fact, many of us would know that just last night—late October—was a very cool evening.
If you were at an outdoor cafe last night, you would have wanted an outdoor heater. Again we have the hypocrisy of the Greens. They have supported the government in everything they have done. They have not bothered to get this stuff done. Now they are saying to the Assembly that this urgently needs to be done, yet their very policy statements work actively against what they claim to be representing.
I look forward to when the Greens do talk to some of those cafe owners that they tell them about their plans to ban outdoor heaters. What will that do for businesses all around Canberra in the freezing temperatures of Canberra where they are able, through the outdoor heaters, to ensure people can enjoy a cup of coffee outside, can enjoy a breakfast outside at their local cafe in the city, in Manuka or somewhere else?
I wonder what the Greens-Labor policy of a $50,000 unit tax is doing for these businesses. I wonder what a Greens-Labor policy of a $50,000 unit tax is doing. If you want a lively city area, if you want to underpin these small businesses, I would have thought that one of the ways would be to encourage more people to live in the city. The Labor Party and the Greens have decided that they will levy a $50,000 per unit tax. That $50,000 per unit tax will hurt, because it will stop development of units in parts of Civic. It will mean that there are less than there otherwise would have been. That means there will be less trade for these small businesses.
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