Page 3430 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 22 October 2014
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Anyone who has travelled outside of this city knows that, on a range of just about any measure you care for, this city does extremely well. Sure, there is room for improvement. Yes, there are some cracked footpaths out there and, yes, we are working on fixing them. There are areas undoubtedly to be improved. We do not face the daily threat of war, terrorist activity, mass poverty and overcrowding—those things that on a global scale so many global citizens do face, and it is worth reflecting on that. I am sure someone will get up and take a chip at me for even mentioning those things, saying they are not relevant for a discussion here in the Assembly, but I think it is important to step back and reflect on what we do have in the context of how so many fellow human beings on this planet live their lives. We should reflect on that with great fortune.
There is no doubt, having made all those remarks, that I think Canberra is a great place to live, and certainly on the OECD ratings we do very well. That does not mean there are not things to improve and there are not things that we should change in Canberra. It would be wrong if we said Canberra is ranked highly so we should stay frozen in an unchangeable bubble. On the contrary, we need to keep changing and adapting as our city changes and as new threats and challenges emerge.
Two issues that I have talked about plenty of times before in this chamber are the threat of climate change and the challenges we face from urban growth, including traffic growth and transport challenges. A smart city, and a city that wants to continue to succeed, will look to the future and take on these challenges for future generations. Just as an example, this might be a good time to point out that on a different city ranking, which is the 2013 Economic Intelligence Unit’s most livable cities index, eight of the top 10 cities have light rail systems. These are older cities than Canberra but, looking to the future, there is a likelihood that light rail will be an important part of what keeps Canberra highly livable. That is a debate that I know we will continue to have in this place. I am not intending to reiterate my views on it at the moment, but I think it is interesting to reflect on the fact that so many of those cities have that as a common feature.
Picking up on a few of the comments that Mr Hanson made, as I said, it almost sounded like we lived in a different town. Most Canberrans acknowledge that we live in a great city. You can pick up something like electricity prices, and there really are two ways to look at this. Mr Hanson said, “Oh, it’s terrible, it’s terrible.” The ACT has the cheapest electricity prices in Australia and has had for a long time. The last time I looked at it, it was $1,500 or $1,600 a year cheaper than for those who live in Queanbeyan just across the border. You can come in here and say, “Oh, it’s terrible that the government’s doing all of this.”
Not only does Canberra have the cheapest electricity prices in Australia by a long shot but also we are building a city that will be insulated against future price increases. It has been talked about in this place, and one can conveniently ignore it if one is trying to build a political narrative, but the reality is that in setting 20-year price contracts we are locking in the ACT’s electricity prices over a 20-year period. We are putting in place a legacy for the future of this city that will mean in 10, 15 or 20 years time, when electricity prices continue to rise as they have done for a whole range of reasons, the ACT will be having prices that are fixed in contracts for 20 years.
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