Page 3674 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 21 November 2007
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botanical gardens, despite the imposts of the Stanhope government, which caused some of the problems there.
This is a theme of life under this Labor government of ours. What the commonwealth coalition government give on the one hand, they take away in increased taxes and charges. It is probable that most electors have no idea that the Goss government, for which Mr Rudd worked as chief of staff—and apparently he was a very much a force to be reckoned with behind the scenes—vastly increased taxes in Queensland. Just to give you example of this, on the same day that the federal government announced a $500 utility allowance to be paid to pensioners, carers and those with a disability, our local government announced that all Canberrans will have to pay $130 more for their water, almost halving the benefit paid to those needy low income earners. This is despite the local government of Mr Stanhope enjoying $140 million in dividends from Actew over the last six years.
I do not think the contribution of the commonwealth government under Howard-Costello should be underestimated. It is pledging a further funding boost of $7.7 million for our universities. It is also putting $8.2 million into new funding for Lifeline in the ACT to secure its vital mental health and phone counselling operations for the future. It is pledging $190 million over four years for initiatives in autism.
The cost of health care for thousands of people across the ACT could well skyrocket under a Rudd Labor government. It has refused to rule out axing the Medicare safety net. Both Rudd and health spokesman, Nicola Roxon, have been critical of the safety net, with Mr Rudd claiming that significant savings could be made through cuts to the health sector. In 2002, over 25,000 patients received $6.1 million in payments through the safety net in the ACT alone. The Labor Party is fooling people by not answering questions on such vital policy areas, leading people who are not politically aware to believe that there would be no real change in the status quo. I do not think anything could be further from the truth.
Labor federally would cost the ACT big time and it would cost those who are most vulnerable. No doubt Labor would like to allege that this is part of a smear campaign, but the truth is that they have made these claims and they have refused to rule out axing such vital services. There is no smear campaign where the criticism is warranted and evidence based. Like the Chief Minister here, Labor federally certainly does not take kindly to criticism or analysis. A Rudd government would also attempt to avoid scrutiny. The government knows that the public would be shocked if they knew how badly it has been mismanaging our public resources.
In education the federal government is contributing $2.3 million towards building the new Gungahlin College, with a similar amount going towards the new Tuggeranong P-10 school and a similar amount going towards the upgrading and refurbishment of Melrose high. Despite what those opposite might say, the size of the grants indicates how highly the coalition government values public education, which is actually administered by the state and territory governments. In 2007, the coalition also allocated close on $300 million to schools across the country as part of their capital grants campaign. That was part of a larger funding commitment which will see nearly $2.9 billion given to schools over the next four years.
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