Page 5312 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 15 November 2011
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We heard last week the head of the Property Council nationally talking about the lack of affordable childcare in the ACT. It is one of the reasons which will turn women away from staying here in the ACT and, in turn, turn many families away from staying in the ACT. And what does this government do in response? It is okay because Katy Gallagher has some advice to the families who are struggling with that extra rego tax. Let us just reflect on that rego tax for a moment. That is a poor tax. It is a tax aimed specifically at those who cannot pay. That is what it is. It is a disgraceful tax, and that is why we want to get rid of it.
We have this advice, though, from Katy Gallagher in response: “Well, they could cancel the Foxtel for a while.” That is the advice. What is that saying to the community about how much Katy Gallagher and this government care about their cost of living pressures? It is saying that they do not care. That is why she says it is a silly debate.
And how else do we know? We see it because not only have their rents gone up and the cost of a first home has gone up, but this government’s response to that is to say, “We’ll put a new tax on units.” So with respect to that rental in Braddon, that unit is now going to cost maybe an extra $50,000, with all of that being passed on. They have not seen a tax that they do not like. Of course, this comes on the back of all of the pressures that have been put on them by the federal Labor government. Whatever tax is put on by federal Labor, the Labor Party here give it a tick. Whether it is the carbon tax or the flood tax—it does not matter which tax—they will support their mates on the hill.
What is becoming quite apparent now is that this government does not have any answers. What was apparent from listening to Ms Gallagher on the radio the other day, when she came up with a thought bubble on cost of living, was that she had no plan, and she was not prepared to actually do anything that might actually cost her money. Madam Assistant Speaker, you only have to go to the transcript to see that she was asked by a caller or a texter about the Liberal Party’s promise to reduce rego for those who can least afford to pay. This is what she said about that:
That’s not part of the plan at this point in time … um … that has quite a cost to it and these are initiatives that don’t come at a considerable cost.
This is the government’s new policy for helping struggling families: “We’ll help you as long as there’s no cost.” That is how much they care. They will help you as long as there is no cost. They are happy to spend $430 million on a government office building. They are happy to spend $2 million just on a little bridge for ministers to get to the Assembly, so that they do not have to walk at the ground level. They can spend money on that but if there is any sort of cost with actually helping, say, a low income family struggling to pay their rego: “Well, no, sorry, we can’t help you with that. That costs money. And don’t you know we have other priorities? Don’t you know the ACT Labor Party has other priorities? Don’t you know we’ve got a $430 million office building to build?” It is a disgrace.
We heard the lack of work and the lack of ability of this Chief Minister during that interview. She was asked: “What have you actually done? What are you doing?”
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