Page 1221 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 6 April 2016

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office. So perhaps you should talk to your federal Labor colleagues about the four-year review and why it is being done. It is being done at their behest. As we all know, proceedings commenced in early 2015 and the final hearings are set for April 2016.

I see the motion calls on the federal government to cease its attack on penalty rates and the workers of the ACT and Australia. Let us give the federal government the final word. Senator Michaelia Cash stated on Sky News on Wednesday, 2 March this year:

I’m going to make it again very, very clear. The Productivity recommendation was to the Fair Work Commission. Why? Because the Australian Government has no role to play in the setting of the minimum wage or penalty rates and we are not going to change it. What people do forget is this though. The Fair Work Commission is currently undertaking a review of penalty rates.

Motion agreed to.

Rate increases

MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (4.54): I move:

That this Assembly:

(1) notes:

(a) the Labor Government’s insistence on continued increases in residential rates and other government charges well beyond cost of living trends;

(b) the threats presented by increases in rates and charges to low income families and households within the Canberra community;

(d) the impact of high rates on the appeal of Canberra as an attractive place to live;

(2) also notes:

(a) the Labor Government’s light rail project will require even greater increases in rates and government charges and further penalise Canberra families and households;

(b) the light rail cost will saddle future generations with a growing burden of debt and operating costs for a service that will be utilised at a fraction of its capacity; and

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