Page 1603 - Week 05 - Thursday, 15 May 2014
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In universities, the removal of fee caps on commonwealth supported places from 2016, combined with changes to student loans, represents a big step away from a principle of universal access to higher education.
In relation to infrastructure, the ACT is disappointed that, despite announcing a national infrastructure program of $11.6 billion, the commonwealth has not provided any new infrastructure funding for the territory.
In a further blow to Canberra, the identified job cuts look set to be added to in the transfer of 600 jobs to the Central Coast of New South Wales. So not only are we losing jobs from the ACT but also people are being relocated to another part of Australia, out of the ACT.
Cuts on this scale hold consequences for our city. Whilst our economy has shown itself to be resilient, the significant reductions in commonwealth spending will have an impact across Canberra and across the region. In economic terms, we expect the overall impact will run to many hundreds of millions of dollars in lost economic output.
For many Canberra households, the commonwealth’s budget will translate into a struggle to meet mortgage payments, heating bills, school excursions and petrol costs, which are set to rise as a result of the reintroduction of fuel excise.
These costs will compound in households across the ACT as they are expected to cope with the combined effect of new taxes, costs to services and a dark cloud hanging over so many jobs.
We often hear commentary about Canberra’s dependence on the commonwealth, but the reality is, as our largest employer, the public service is our Holden or our BHP. It is the key driver of our workforce and economy, and I hope it remains so.
The ACT government believes that the public servants of Canberra are no less valuable than the workers of Holden or BHP and I caution anyone against trivialising or dehumanising them in this discussion, or suggesting that their job is any less valuable than anyone else’s.
Since October last year, the Prime Minister has assured me on a number of occasions he has no wish to harm the ACT, yet, whether through intent or indifference, this is the outcome of this commonwealth budget.
I have been very clear and consistent with the commonwealth that Canberra should not be expected to absorb job losses on this scale. Any job loss is regrettable, but for one community to be asked to cop losses two or three times greater than those we have seen in those manufacturing cities—which, incidentally, have drawn immediate transitional assistance—is extremely unfair.
While these cuts and job losses have been clearly identified in the commonwealth budget, no assistance has been provided to the ACT community. We have received no
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