Page 1515 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 4 May 2016
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MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Mr Doszpot, sit down for a moment. Please address your remarks through the chair, not to Mr Barr.
MR DOSZPOT: Thank you.
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Mr Doszpot.
MR DOSZPOT: Madam Assistant Speaker, Mr Barr should be aware that it need not be and should not be at the expense and exclusion of our older residents. As people age they often become more vulnerable and averse to change. So when a government decides to review a concession program, such as the ACT did recently, many of our seniors become anxious. They also needed to be patient, because it would seem that the minister for seniors is in no hurry to allay their fears.
When a government announces changes to stamp duty, and then lifts rates way beyond CPI, people become anxious. In suburbs like Yarralumla, with a seniors percentage of nearly 20 per cent, they worry because their rates this year have risen 10.3 per cent. In Downer they have gone up 12.3 per cent, in Campbell 10 per cent, in Red Hill 10 per cent. The list goes on. No suburb had increases close to the CPI; in fact, most rate rises were three to four times above the CPI.
Our older residents are feeling overlooked and neglected by this government. To be honest, I cannot blame them. The government boasts that Canberra is an “age friendly city”, yet it would appear that it is doing everything within its power to prove otherwise. Changes to the concessions program, rate hikes and a slow response to safety issues like footpath repairs and street lighting upgrades are all affecting our ageing population. Often when I make a representation on behalf of my constituents, I find there is no money for footpath repairs or that the issue has been noted and will be monitored.
But there is money for light rail, apparently. Assuming our senior residents in Gungahlin can walk to catch a tram to the city to shop, or vice versa, they will get some benefit. But there is a presumption that in most cases there will be a walk of two to three blocks just to get to a stop. It is not surprising that older residents in suburbs like Downer, Dickson and O’Connor have serious reservations about any advantage that light rail might mean for them.
Canberra number plates proclaim “Canberra—age friendly city”, yet we have a Chief Minister who is rapidly establishing a reputation that contradicts this very registration slogan.
As one within the ABS category of seniors, I know only too well the Chief Minister’s ageist attitudes. I have been the recipient of some of these jibes from Mr Barr over the years. I recall that when I was asking questions about the Westside pop-up village, what I have often referred to as the Lake Burley Griffin shipping container terminal, Mr Barr replied somewhat sneeringly that I need not worry about the success or failure of the venture because:
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