Page 642 - Week 02 - Thursday, 6 March 2008
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As I said yesterday, in the context of $4,400 a year in extra mortgage payments, the imperative for which we are working desperately is to prevent $4,400 in extra mortgage payments growing to, say, $5,000 or more a year. It is already at $367 a month. Another 0.25 per cent next month, as is anticipated and foreshadowed, will push the monthly extra payment up to over $400 a month. That is what we face. That is what young Canberra families face. One would have thought that it was worth at least one mention by the Leader of the Opposition when he moved yesterday that the Assembly note the effect and implications of commonwealth budget cuts. One would have thought that it was worth a single mention, that, yes, it is a pity and it is to be regretted that government programs and facilities and government employees are facing stringent times.
Yes, it is to be regretted. It is a pity, and we have to ensure that the commonwealth government, in the steps that it takes to combat rampaging inflation, takes account of the potential for a disproportionate impact on the ACT and the people of the ACT. It is vital that we do that. It is vital that we do everything we can. But let us not get away from what it is that we are seeking to prevent, and that is the economic impact. We see it here already in the territory as a result of inflation. We see it today in the latest figures on state final demand. Inflation is biting in this community. It is a direct result of interest rate rises and insecurity that has been created or driven by those interest rate rises and the threat of inflation. There is nervousness within the business community and a pulling back on investments that might otherwise have been made. Make no mistake. The state final demand figures we see are a direct result of Liberal Party financial mismanagement.
You can boot the cause straight home to the Liberal Party, geed up, of course, by their ACT Liberal Party colleagues. There was no suggestion of a pause or halt in the flagrant undisciplined spending that we have seen over the last few years by the previous government. Of course, you reap what you sow, and we are reaping the whirlwind. But who is reaping the whirlwind at a level that perhaps is more painful than the rest? It is young families and young people, the people that the Leader of the Opposition and the Liberal Party, in an entire debate initiated by them on the implications of cuts being produced by the commonwealth government, did not once feel the necessity to refer to. The implications for the economy, the knock-on implications for investment, the implications thereby for retail expenditure and the economy overall, the implications for employment and, most pertinently, the implications for the affordability of mortgages, the commitments that people make to housing and the housing stress faced by Canberra families paying that extra $4,400 a year in mortgage payments were not mentioned.
That is at the heart of the issue. That is the issue you would have raised for debate yesterday if you were genuinely concerned. You would not have launched an entire debate led by a 15-minute speech by your leader without once mentioning the implications of interest rate rises for young families. Today, to cover your embarrassment you come in here with a matter of pubic importance around young families. You come in here today to cover your embarrassment. You said to yourselves, “Goodness me, we really did show yesterday what we stand for—essentially nothing.” You generated a whole debate—it took half the day—and your
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