Page 3447 - Week 08 - Thursday, 23 August 2012
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statistics I just read out give you some comfort for the injection of $558 million under part 1.6 of the budget. At this point I would just like to place on the record my thanks for the responsiveness of the directorate that seeks to meet the needs of Canberrans through its local government services.
Proposed expenditure agreed to.
Proposed expenditure—Part 1.7—Treasury Directorate—$43,366,000 (net cost of outputs), $81,479,000 (capital injection) and $17,782,000 (payments on behalf of the territory), totalling $142,627,000.
MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (7.45): What I would like to focus on in this particular area is the cost of living pressures that are being placed on Canberra families as a result of decisions of this Treasurer in this budget, and we have seen those building. To his credit, Andrew Barr is not the only Labor Treasurer who has been piling on the cost of living pressures on Canberra families. He follows along in a tradition of Labor treasurers who have done that over the last 11 years. They have been increasing taxes and charges every year so that the family budget becomes ever more stretched.
The cost of living statement in this year’s budget has $9,000 per year going to ACT government fees and charges for an average family—$9,000 per year. Let us just contemplate that for a moment. On top of all of the other costs an average family has—their income tax they pay the federal government, their GST they pay the federal government, their petrol excise they pay every time they fill up their tank of petrol, all of the other taxes and charges that are paid—the ACT government charges them on average $9,000, and for many families it is much more.
We in the Canberra Liberals believe this is one of the most important issues, if not the most important issue, in the community at the moment. It is how much it costs just to get by—it is the electricity, it is water, it is rates, it is the cost of parking, it is the cost of all sorts of other essentials. This government does not seem to care and does not seem to get that so many people in our community are doing it tough—they are low income earners and they are middle income earners.
There are even people who some would classify as high income earners who are doing it tough. It is a moving feast, of course, because when you are paying off a $400,000 or $500,000 mortgage to get into the market in the ACT, then you have to earn a fair bit to have a chance of getting that loan in the first place and to be able to pay that back. You have to be on a pretty reasonable income. By national standards, you have to be well above the national average in terms of income just to be able to make ends meet and just to be able to pay the basic mortgage repayments on a first home.
This Treasury line encapsulates the government’s attitude, because they raise taxes at every opportunity. I want to touch on a couple of those taxes and charges that Canberra families are facing. There are rates increases coming, and many people are seeing them already. Many people are seeing very large increases come through just
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