Page 3979 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 29 November 2022

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Mr Rattenbury, in the beginning, said all the right words, as he usually does. He says all the right words. In his speech at least he acknowledged that Canberrans are facing a cost of living crisis. But talk is cheap, Mr Rattenbury, when you are sitting at the decision-making table and you control the purse strings and you fail to act. He could not even bring himself to support my line in the motion that said “acknowledge that there is a cost of living crisis in the ACT”. If he cannot even bring himself to vote for that, what hope do low income and vulnerable Canberrans have that this Labor-Greens coalition are going to take these issues seriously and ensure that they take genuine and tangible steps to address this crisis?

Mr Rattenbury could not help himself; he demonised and created a war between landlords and tenants. As a landlord himself, as is his Greens colleague Mr Davis, he would know that most landlords care about their tenants and they want to do the right thing. Whilst he is waxing lyrical and complaining about the Liberals and the genuine concerns that we raise that perhaps the policies and proposals and initiatives that he is putting forward in terms of rental tenancy laws may have a perverse effect, he completely fails to acknowledge the concern that many landlords have that they may be forced to sell, depriving the market of much-needed affordable rental properties.

It is incredibly disappointing but absolutely unsurprising that, once again, Labor and the Greens, instead of acknowledging and actually taking action to do something about the hurt that is being caused to so many Canberrans, have chosen to congratulate themselves on a job well done. But the key issue remains. If every step that has been outlined in Mr Barr’s amendment is what they want to congratulate themselves on, they really should look at themselves in the mirror and ask: why are almost 40,000 Canberrans living in poverty, including 9,000 children, with more hurt to come? They should really ask themselves: are they doing everything they can, as the people who are around the decision-making table, the people who control the purse strings, to help some of the vulnerable members of our community? The Canberra Liberals will not be supporting Mr Barr’s amendment.

Question put:

That the amendment be agreed to.

The Assembly voted—

Amendment agreed to.

Original question, as amended, resolved in the affirmative.

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