Page 2352 - Week 08 - Thursday, 6 June 2013
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not rich, but they do seek to enrich their children through education. I said then that these parents deserve our support. I still believe that, and I will continue to pursue it.
Throughout my time in the Assembly I have stood up for the outer suburbs of Canberra. I believe the outer suburbs often get left behind by governments, who too often focus on the inner suburbs, where many of them reside. It is this insider’s view of the world which often drives government policy, and it is one which I utterly reject.
These attitudes of fighting for the outer suburbs led to our promise to duplicate Gungahlin Drive—a promise then matched by the Labor Party. We advocated for more funding for the west Belconnen health clinic. This was my first promise of the 2008 election campaign. During last year’s campaign we promised a pool for Lanyon, the duplication of Horse Park Drive and Athllon Drive, more parking in Belconnen and Tuggeranong, and upgrades to local sporting facilities across Canberra as part of our commitment to local service delivery.
Sometimes fighting for people in the suburbs puts you at odds with the insiders and even your traditional supporters. The fight over the power station was one example of this. The insiders told us that we should not oppose this project—a plan to put a power station in the backyards of Tuggeranong residents—because it was “good for business”. Our position was that you did not need a power station as part of the project, and there were plenty of better places for it. We won that debate. I believe history will judge us correct and the people of Tuggeranong will thank us.
I pursued the issue of housing affordability throughout my term because it is the foundation of prosperity and fundamental to family life. Without the security of home ownership, family life is uncertain, the future is unnerving, and the wheel of rental dependency can seem unending. Policies like halving or abolishing stamp duty for first homebuyers, infrastructure and land development reform and reducing the lease variation charge are all motivated by a desire to make the dream of home ownership a little bit easier than it is at the moment.
The Canberra Liberals under my leadership put cost of living front and centre. We did this because family budgets are under increasing strain, for many reasons. One is that anyone who has purchased a home in Canberra since around 2002 has had to take on an increasingly large mortgage. This means that when prices in other areas go up, they are more keenly felt. I believe this is one of the hidden factors behind rising budget stress.
The other factor is that the cost of the things we need has gone up much faster than the things we want—electricity, water, rates, rent, petrol, fresh food and education. It is little consolation to people on tight budgets that the cost of plasma TVs has gone down when the cost of essentials of life has gone up far quicker than inflation.
Governments cannot fix all of these problems, but they should do what they can. They certainly should not ignore or dismiss those who, despite working hard at one, two, or even three jobs, still cannot get ahead in a town that prides itself on affluence and aspiration. For far too many, that dream is becoming harder and harder to achieve. For far too many, the problem is ignored. I have never ignored it, and I will continue to fight to bring that dream back into being.
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