Page 2268 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 12 August 2014
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you have people like Jack Waterford clearly identifying the incoherence of this government’s strategy, I think it is worth reflecting on. We do have a different view, as I outlined in my budget reply.
It is also important to note that we would not be in the same situation we are in now if we had been in government for 13 years. We would not be in the situation where we have the level of debt and deficit that now burdens this government as it is trying to pursue its own agendas, needing to squeeze so much out of the community to pay not just for its shiny new toys that it wants to pursue but also to pay the debt deficit which it has accumulated over 13 years.
One of the great benefits of opposition is that you do have the time and inclination to go out and talk to the community—as I said, the people who are engaged with government, people who are affected directly by this government at the business end and the community sector. Also we have been going out on Fridays to local shopping centres. As we all know, we do not have electorate offices. We have been getting out on the ground talking to local Canberrans. When you talk to them, they will tell you that this government is not delivering what Canberrans want. On a whole, broad range of issues, this is not a government that is looking after the interests of Canberrans.
I think that the key issue amongst those is the issue of rates. Mr Barr needs to get down out of his ivory tower, get out of his economics for dummies or economics 101, or wherever he is getting his information from, or the Ted Quinlan tax manual, and go down to the local shops and talk to Canberrans about what they really think about his rates increases. I think he would get a very different picture than the slaps on the back he gets at his Labor Party meetings.
If Simon Corbell were to go down to areas of Canberra beyond some areas of the inner north, perhaps, and talk to people about what they think about light rail, I think he would get a very different picture of what people think about light rail. I look forward to what Mr Coe has to say about that issue later in this debate.
You talk to people about the rising cost of living and the impost that is being imposed on them by this government that is at every step and in almost every aspect of their life trying to squeeze more dollars out of them. Every time they turn on their power, every time they drive their car or park their vehicle, get on public transport or pay their rates—every time they do that, they find Andrew Barr there putting his hands in their pockets.
What we want to do is make Canberra the best place for everyone to raise a family, to make a living and to get ahead. (Second speaking period taken.) We have a different view and certainly it is not an oversimplification, but I want to break it down into three simple elements. What we want to see is greater growth in Canberra; we want to see a better connected Canberra; and a more liveable Canberra. When I talk to people in Canberra, that is what they want. That is what they want their government to do—less of the interference, less of the Andrew Barr thought bubbles or Shane Rattenbury banning pig farms and pursuing particular ideological agendas.
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