Page 2212 - Week 06 - Thursday, 7 June 2018
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Of course, this government is spending more than ever before. Despite the record revenue, the government cannot manage its expenses. They cannot stick to a budget and, above all, they do not respect the people that are actually paying the bills. Rather than support nurses, doctors, teachers and other public servants, this government makes it harder for them to do their jobs. And when the heat on ministers becomes too great, they hide behind public servants. These ministers are experts at sending out public servants for the bad news whilst stealing the limelight for the good news. They disrespect our public service.
A couple of years ago I spoke of Canberra becoming a two-paced society. This risk is real and must be addressed. We must not be a city that only caters for the wealthy. We must not be a city that prices families out of the market. Perhaps this government’s most stark failure is in the area of Aboriginal policy. By almost every indicator, we are further from reconciliation today than we were 10 years ago. Despite making up less than two per cent of the ACT’s population, Indigenous Canberrans make up over 20 per cent of the ACT prison population.
Fewer than three per cent of children in Canberra are Indigenous but they make up about a quarter of kids in the child protection system. Canberra’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students face a two-year NAPLAN gap behind their non-Indigenous peers. These shortcomings, and many others, are appalling.
This government is failing on Indigenous policy and so many other social policy areas. It is because this Labor Party has changed. The Labor Party used to represent the working poor. They do not anymore. This is a party that is crushing hopes. They are only interested in the elite. In contrast, I want to live in a city where those who grew up here can afford to stay here.
In 2011 a 425-square metre block of land in Casey would sell for $210,000. After just six years of Andrew Barr, a 425-square metre block in Throsby was $400,000, double the price. This gouging strategy serves two purposes for this greedy Labor government. Firstly, they get more revenue up-front and, secondly, they drive up the unimproved land values so that they can collect more in rates, year on year.
This sinister move prices people out of the Canberra market. People in Canberra are finding it tougher to live with this government’s policy. Take a real example: Isabelle in Palmerston, who said:
To afford to buy my townhouse—I worked 3 jobs to save the deposit and study and I managed to get enough together. Now I struggle to afford to even eat properly and live in my own little place … As the years have gone on, the costs have gone up and my salary is not high.
When they have morning tea at work I do not participate because I cannot afford to. I make up an excuse saying that I have several allergies … Even with a second cleaning job, it is impossible to stay ahead.
I simply cannot pay my rates bill this time. And if I can’t pay, I am charged interest.
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