Page 2860 - Week 07 - Thursday, 7 June 2012
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These projects are part of an economic stimulus package designed to support construction jobs rather than artists in Canberra. As a general observation, I think that the focus on buildings rather than people has missed some opportunities there—although, as I said, we welcome the upgrades.
In business, the budget contains a range of initiatives to attract and promote business in Canberra. The Greens agree with this strategy and the intention to create alternative private sector employment at a time when the commonwealth public sector is contracting.
We are pleased that there is $500,000 of continuing support for the Canberra business development venture capital fund. This provides some support for future diversification of the ACT economy and it will assist a range of business proposals which we hope will include the future sustainable industries and businesses that the ACT needs. In addition to this, the clean tech development fund and the red tape reduction initiatives are very welcome.
The biggest changes for business are in the changes to the payroll tax threshold, the staged abolition of insurance duty and the consolidation of land tax into commercial rates. The Greens support all these initiatives and agree they should have a positive impact for business.
Canberra can be a 21st century economy that sustainable business and jobs are drawn to, not only because we have a good business environment with lower taxes and administrative burdens but also because we have created a flourishing market for the products and services that will be developed.
Turning to the community sector, it is interesting to note that the government has found $360,000 over two years to support the work of the red tape reduction taskforce and support an expert panel to investigate regulatory impediments to business and establish a navigator program to build small and medium enterprises’ compliance capability—which, as I said, the Greens are supportive of—but that similar funding could not be found to support the community sector, with similar issues. In fact, Minister Burch has outlined a virtual tax on the community sector to pay $1.3 million over three years for similar work on reducing government red tape.
In the area of housing affordability, and this is a difficult issue, we are very pleased that a significant and coordinated effort has been developed to send a strong signal to the market that what we need in Canberra is more affordable housing and not more million-dollar McMansions. Of course, we will have to see how the initiative rolls out and how the market responds. I would say yet again that the up-front cost of housing is not the only measure of affordability and that reducing running costs is a very efficient and effective way of making housing more affordable.
In the area of cost of living and targeted assistance, I think that before we consider this issue and the impact the budget will have on it we need to be aware of a few facts. Canberrans earn on average the highest wages in the country. We pay the lowest electricity prices in the country. For a capital city we have just about the cheapest parking in the country. In 2009-10, which was the last year I could find a national average for, we paid 13 cents a kilolitre less than the national average for water.
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