Page 294 - Week 01 - Thursday, 13 February 2020
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For a number of people in rental properties that I have spoken to in recent weeks, the penny has dropped with them about why rents are so high in Tuggeranong and right across Canberra. Mitchell from Fadden, Anthony and Tracy from Isabella Plains and Marcel from Wanniassa: I speak for you.
What is even more surprising is the number of what many would define as traditional Labor voters who are incredibly angry at this government’s policies around cost of living. Many of these people identify themselves to me as Labor people who are now absolutely fed up. Yes, Lewis from Wanniassa, I am talking about you; I am talking about Rita from Conder. They have had enough. This was a good line that came to me when I doorknocked on Monday afternoon. A constituent said, “I am not a constituent; I am an ATM for this government. I am an automatic teller machine for this government.”
They have had enough of not receiving the services they deserve in return. They are sick of walking on broken footpaths, driving on roads with potholes, not having the grass mowed, and seeing the rubbish in Lake Tuggeranong. They are sick of the ever-increasing cost of parking while having their alternative option of catching the bus taken away. It is pretty hard to get hit by a bus in Wanniassa at the moment; I will give you that strong tip.
The people of Tuggeranong are sick of this government. They are sick of paying for their out-of-control spending habits. I say to Paul and Caroline from Greenway, George from out on Lawrence Wackett Crescent, Marie, Derek and the girls from Monash and Renee from Kambah, that when it comes to cost of living, let me be clear: we hear you. We hear you very loudly and very clearly. I can safely say that the other side stopped listening a long time ago.
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (4.34): After 19 years of Labor we have a skyrocketing cost of living in Canberra. Canberra now has the highest rents, the most expensive petrol, the highest costs of owning and running a car, the highest gas prices, the highest childcare prices and the second highest land prices. I could go on.
Since 2012 Labor has tripled our rates. Rates have increased from $209 million in 2011-12 to $652 million in the 2020-21 year. In the 2019-20 budget, rates for houses and rural properties increased by seven per cent, rates for unit-title properties increased by 11 per cent, and land tax increased by seven per cent. For the first time in Canberra’s history, this Labor-Greens government will collect revenue exceeding $7 billion, and they are borrowing a record $1 billion. Under Labor, Canberrans will be paying interest on these borrowings for decades, further adding to increases in the cost of living through higher rates, fees, charges and taxes.
In Tuggeranong the importance of reducing the cost of living pressures is even more important. I hear this every day. Not only are our costs of living increasing but our services are diminishing. In Tuggeranong, under this Labor-Greens government, they have reduced our bus services, neglected our parks, gouged us for parking, neglected our lakes and ponds, neglected our footpaths, reduced mowing this year, neglected our sporting facilities and ovals, and given us poor-quality pothole patching and road
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