Page 1247 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 3 April 2019

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That this Assembly:

(1) notes the ACT government’s commitment to fairness in the community including:

(a) the use of concessions to ease financial pressure on low income households and foster an inclusive community that supports vulnerable people;

(b) the development of a range of plans to support social inclusion across the community with the vision of being a socially inclusive, fair and equitable community;

(c) the Concessions Program which aims to promote equity in the standard of living and access to essential services for all members of the ACT community; and

(d) the introduction of online facilities to more easily enter into automated payment plans for fines to reduce the upfront financial impact; and

(2) calls on the ACT government to further develop flexible payment options for fees and charges for those Canberrans struggling to meet their everyday costs to help manage their household bills by smoothing out the peaks, including investigate:

(a) extending the period of time in which fines have to paid by up to six months to ensure unexpected costs do not prevent people from paying for essentials;

(b) incremental payment options for the registration of all vehicles; and

It is with great enthusiasm that I speak to this very important motion on my birthday. I thank all those who have wished me a happy birthday. Whilst I like to think my birthday is the most important thing going on right now, I think this motion is pretty important too.

According to the census, Canberra is a relatively well educated and affluent community. For us, that is both an opportunity and a risk. The opportunity is to provide high quality services to the community; the risk is forgetting that not everybody in Canberra is well off. That is something that I will never, ever forget.

While some look at our community and see a city of EL2 public servants, I see the skilled and unskilled tradespeople, the retail and hospitality staff, the cleaners and security guards, the bus drivers, the people with normal jobs, the people who the interim Prime Minister ignores and insults when he refers to the Canberra bubble.

When I was a hairdressing apprentice, I was paid $3.22 an hour. That is right: $3.22 an hour. Not only did that period of my life teach me that junior and training wages suck and that trade unionism is the best path Australians have for fairer wages; it also taught me to manage a budget on a low fixed income. Since I have had this job with its much higher fixed income, I have done all I can to ensure that this government does all it can for those workers and others in the community who do not have such a high income.

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