Page 121 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 28 November 2012
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most particularly in the outer suburbs. It is the outer suburbs of Canberra that are feeling the cost of living increases that in many cases have been imposed upon them by their ACT government.
I would like, as part of this motion today, to go through what some of those cost of living pressures are, what some of the policy levers are that the government is pulling and how we should be approaching this issue to ensure that cost of living is front and centre and that lowering people’s cost of living is absolutely at the forefront of the government’s thinking, because it has not been to date. The outer suburbs are feeling it the most. We saw that at the recent election with the outer suburbs, particularly the southern suburbs, voting overwhelmingly for change, voting with their feet, saying to the government, “You have let us down on cost of living and something needs to change.” What we say in the Assembly is that something needs to change and that doing things in the way that this government has done them for 11 years will simply lead to more pain for families and make things harder and harder.
Let us go through some of the stats and see why Canberrans are feeling these cost of living pressures, as I say, most particularly in the outer suburbs of Canberra. Since Labor was first elected, taxation per capita has gone up 90 per cent, the highest in the country. Real taxation is up 55 per cent, property rates 90 per cent and rents 77 per cent. Water prices have tripled, with more increases likely due to the blowout in the Cotter Dam. Electricity prices are up 85 per cent, with another increase of 17.8 per cent to pay for the federal Labor and Greens carbon tax, supported by the local Green-Labor coalition.
As I said, rates have increased 90 per cent under the Labor government. Let us look at some of the suburbs that have copped it particularly badly. It goes right across the board, but some of the outer suburbs have copped it particularly badly. In Banks there has been a 152 per cent increase over that period, in Charnwood a 158 per cent increase, in Chisholm a 130 per cent increase, in Dunlop a 137 per cent increase, in Spence a 148 per cent increase and in Holt a 138 per cent increase—to name a few. It is no wonder that the people of Tuggeranong voted so overwhelmingly for change when we look at what they have been copping. I mention Banks at 152 per cent, Bonython at 118 per cent, Gilmore at 113 per cent, Kambah at 107 per cent, Oxley at 107 per cent, Richardson at 124 per cent and Wanniassa at 110 per cent. People’s incomes have not gone up by this amount over this period and now we have got a government that want to make things worse through their tax changes. They are making it worse already and that will continue in the coming years under their tax changes.
Before I get into some more detail on that I will touch on some other issues. We know that there are other cost pressures that are being felt by Canberra families. Child care, for instance, in the ACT is $13 a day more expensive than the national average. Now, for the first time, first homes cost, on average, over $400,000. The government is making it more expensive for first homebuyers by changing concessions, seeing some first homebuyers having to pay up to $11,000 extra in stamp duty.
This is a record of failure when it comes to cost of living. We in the Canberra Liberals believe that this continues to be the most significant issue for the people of Canberra
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