Page 5311 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 15 November 2011
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In fact, for many families the situation is much worse than that 80 per cent number. In Banks it is 151 per cent. In Spence it is 147 per cent. In Charnwood it is 158 per cent. In Chisholm it is 130 per cent. These are the families that this government thinks are doing so well. They are doing so well in these suburbs that the government thinks an extra 130 per cent is about right, or an extra 150 per cent is about right.
That is money they no longer have to spend on their families. That is money they no longer have to spend on that rego bill, which then forces them to pay that extra tax. That is money, perhaps, that means their child does not get to play sport this year. Maybe they do not get the opportunity to play sport this year, because they are seeing those hundreds of thousands of extra dollars going to the ACT government. This government dares to come in here and say, “That’s okay, because we occasionally give a tiny fraction of it back.” Well, keep giving the tiny fraction of it back to those who can least afford it, but there are tens of thousands of others who cannot afford it and who get nothing from this government.
We need policies that put downward pressure on these costs. We need a government that is prepared not to just keep taxing and taxing and taxing as if there is an unlimited number in the community who can pay. We have seen Tuggeranong residents hit by large rate increases over the last couple of years. Communities@Work said that, as of 31 March 2011, emergency relief for people in Tuggeranong and Weston Creek had gone up 18 per cent in the last year. Vinnies noted that interviews with residents in Tuggeranong seeking hardship assistance increased by 9.3 per cent and there was a 22 per cent increase in the number of employed people seeking hardship assistance. So we know they are feeling it.
They are feeling it across the board from this government. They have seen their rents grow by 68 per cent in those 10 years, with the second highest average weekly rent in the country, at approximately $500. We have seen their water costs go up 200 per cent in 10 years. That is an increase of $550 on the average annual amount paid for water. We have seen electricity costs go up, and this government adding to them with their policies which put direct pressure on low income families having to pay more and more and more. We have seen parking fees in Civic increase by 79 per cent in 10 years, an increase of $1,378 for a full year of parking.
And what do we get from this government? What do we get from Katy Gallagher? On 18 August she said:
To reduce it to this silly little debate that the Liberals have been running for the past couple of years …
It is not a silly debate. These are real families with real pressures, and many of these pressures have been piled on them by the ACT government. What about the young family who are working hard, who are making a reasonable income and who are now faced with an average first home cost of $400,000? We did not hear that in Dr Bourke’s speech. We did not hear him trumpeting, “Isn’t it wonderful?” For the first time under ACT Labor we have seen the cost of a first home—the cost to get into the market—go up above the $400,000 mark. That is the legacy of this government. We see it in childcare; we see it in so many other areas.
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