Page 827 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 9 March 2016
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The community knows that this government is not transparent in the business of government. The community knows that this government cannot effectively manage money, people or resources. The government said it would change the tax mix, reducing stamp duty on homes while increasing rates. The government said this would be revenue neutral, but the unsurprising truth is that the government was saying one thing while doing another.
In November 2015 the consolidated 2014-15 annual financial statements showed that the government had increased revenue, through increased taxes on working families, by $81 million. Of this increased revenue, $36 million was because of massive hikes in rates, making them quite unfair. This was never going to be a revenue-neutral measure, and the government knew it. The Chief Minister and Treasurer have misled the community over and over, and quite openly.
Whether or not Canberrans own their own home, they are paying for these massive increases to rates. If they own their own home, they would know their rates have increased by 10 to 15 per cent in the last 12 months alone. It is not only home owners who are paying for these massive rate hikes. Renters will see upward pressure placed on their rent as landlords are faced with higher bills and are likely to pass these costs on.
The rate payers of Amaroo are also disappointed with the government. They have had delay after delay in the delivery of the Amaroo group centre. The residents of Amaroo in the past four years alone have seen their average rates increase by $444. It is no wonder that so many constituents have contacted me to express their disappointment at this old and greedy government. It is simple. The government is good at taking, but it fails to deliver meaningful action on time or on budget. To give back to residents some value for the steeply increasing taxes that they pay is not that hard, but members of the government would have to want to that.
If petrol costs were going up by 10 or 15 per cent per year there would be riots. The Competition and Consumer Commission would be involved, the media would be screaming, and we would be asking ourselves what the greedy oil merchants were doing to families. But for some reason in this town residents are unhappy, but the public anger has not yet spilled out. We will see what happens over the next six months. Fair is fair. That is why I am calling on the ACT government to come forward and advise the Assembly this week as to when the new group centre for Molonglo will be built—even if in a general time frame—and to respect the residents of Weston Creek who are graciously putting up with quite a lot of discomfort in order to accommodate these additional residents from Molonglo Valley. They are doing so with the best grace that they can, but they deserve to know that there is an end date and roughly when that will be.
I am calling on the ACT government to be transparent about its plans and time lines for new Molonglo and to inform the Assembly and the people of Canberra when they can expect to have this group centre completed in Molonglo. It is not fair that rates continue to rise at astronomical percentages while the government slacks off and does not perform the duties that it owes to the people of Canberra.
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