Page 227 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 15 February 2012
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make investments in the territory’s urban infrastructure to improve the amenity and support the growth of the city. This will be funding over and above the $120 million provided every year for municipal services and local infrastructure upgrades.
I know how important this is to all Canberrans. It is something my constituents talk to me about frequently at my mobile office. Importantly, every cent developers pay will go into improving the look and feel of Canberra. Labor is re-investing the returns from development back into the community. This is fair, this is focused, and this benefits everyone. The fund will mean more parks, more playgrounds, more mowing, more shopping centre upgrades, better footpaths and more repairs to roads.
I call on the Assembly, and in particular those opposite, to support this very important revenue source for the ACT government—a revenue source that has a strong basis in economics, that is both fair and efficient. I also call on the Assembly to support the government’s urban improvement program because, as I said before, this is fair, this is focused and this benefits everyone. Certainly, I can see no reason why this motion should not have the support of the whole Assembly.
MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (5.06): It is difficult to know where to start with this one because there are so many errors and so many falsehoods in the arguments that have been put forward by the government.
Mr Barr: So many favours owed to your property sector donors.
MR SESELJA: Sorry; could you speak up, Mr Barr? I could not hear the interjection.
Mr Barr: So many favours owed, Mr Seselja.
MR SPEAKER: Just continue with the speech, thank you, Mr Seselja.
MR SESELJA: The Labor Party fund their campaigns on the backs of problem gamblers. How many people have lost their homes, do you think, in Belconnen to fund Andrew Barr’s campaigns? What a joke the Labor Party are. Ms Porter in Belconnen: there are a lot of poker machines there funding her campaign.
Opposition members interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Thank you, members. Mr Seselja, let us focus on the debate, thank you.
MR SESELJA: I digress but I will get back to the dodginess of both the announcement and this tax. You have to ask: apart from riding on the backs of problem gamblers, what it is about home buyers and renters that the Labor Party hate so much? Why do they insist on making it so much more difficult for Canberra families to rent a place in this town? What is it about those people—those second-class citizens, as Mr Barr has described them; the two-class Canberra? You want to keep them there—and taxes like this do exactly that.
Mr Smyth: Keep them down.
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