Page 2702 - Week 08 - Thursday, 24 August 2006
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Mr Hargreaves: Taxis?
MR MULCAHY: Taxes, levies and charges—there is not much happening in the taxi department; I agree—that are making the lives of ACT householders much more difficult to sustain. TAMS is presiding over increases to ACTION bus fares, as of July this year. Okay, it may seem small when parents are told they have to find another couple of dollars a week for their children going off to school. But, across households, people are experiencing the impact of the Stanhope government’s horror budget. All these things add up. The rates charges, the water abstraction charges, the utility charges and the bus fares and so on are going up. Mr Hargreaves explained the composition of these increases in estimates by stating:
… most of the six per cent increase has been applied to cash fares, with the adult fare going from $2.50 to $3—that is, a 20 per cent increase—while the cash fare for concessions increased from $1.30 to $1.50, which is just over 15 per cent, and all other ticket types had modest … adjustments of about the CPI or lower, or minimal amounts of 10c.
Here we are again seeing increases well above the rate of inflation, and we are particularly slugging those who pay cash fares. I know this is a tried and true revenue-making effort that the London underground has worked out. But who are the people that pay cash fares? In a city like London it might be the tourists, but in a city like Canberra it is the people who probably do not have enough money to outlay for a ticket except on a short-term cash basis. So now, on top of the average household having to pay between $63 and $403 more in land rates, $84 for the extra new fire and emergency services levy, $137 more in the increased water extraction charge and $15 more for a utility land use permit, they will have to cop fare increases of between 15 and 20 per cent to take public transport around Canberra if they pay cash.
Canberrans have not seen much value for money since this government came to power in 2001. Instead, they have witnessed an increasingly more expensive territory to live in, progressively worse service provision and an even more cavalier response by ministers to their concerns. We have been told that this new and improved Department of the Territory and Municipal Services can finally deliver on its promises of better cost allocation and better service provision because extra money is being allocated for this purpose, but it is coming at the expense of higher bus fares and higher taxes and charges for ACT households. This government’s record in delivering on its promises in this regard has been far from impressive. I echo the sentiment of Mr Pratt about local restructure, the disgraceful state of Adelaide Avenue and the incredible situation of the surface at Mugga Way. These are areas I am constantly getting calls about, which should be addressed by this department.
DR FOSKEY (Molonglo) (8.32): What has happened to the environment portfolio? It seems to have been divvied up and spread across a number of portfolios. There is no point asking the minister for the environment—
Members interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Order! Dr Foskey, resume your seat for the moment. We will just wait until the conversation stops across the floor.
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