Page 1221 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 9 April 2008
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because they do not have the mobility that is their right, especially after they have contributed to the community after a working life of 30 or 40 years.
While I am doing a reprise of some of the words of the Leader of the Opposition, let me say that we have to ask ourselves this. After receiving unprecedented revenue from the property boom and the GST, many Canberrans ask, “What have we got to show for it?” It certainly is not a public transport system that meets the needs of older people.
In addition, taxes and charges have increased significantly. This has a disproportionate impact on older members of our community who are pensioners or self-funded retirees. There are many people in the ACT who are self-funded retirees but are not extraordinarily wealthy people. Most of the people who are retired on CSS pensions are low to middle-ranking public servants who have modest pensions, modest superannuation, some of which is not much larger than the age pension. We have to keep that in mind. Not everybody who retires out of the public service does so with a great big golden handshake even if they were members of the CSS for a lengthy time.
In addition, we have seen the worst waiting lists in the country. Again, this is an issue which is of considerable concern to our retirees, for whom healthcare is an ever-increasing priority.
There has been a failure to significantly improve infrastructure, particularly water infrastructure. This is a matter of concern for elderly Canberrans, as they see their lifetime’s work in establishing a garden and contributing to Canberra’s urban amenity crumbling, dying and turning to dust before their eyes.
Canberrans deserve better. “If ever there has been a time after the great boom that we have had from the GST and the property boom when people should be expecting a lot from their government, it is now.” These are the words of the Leader of the Opposition. They certainly echo today when we talk about the needs and the rights of people in our community who are ageing. If the government cannot take care of important services in the midst of a multimillion dollar boom, how can we expect them to get it right in tougher times?
Instead of wasting our time on the list of things that the Leader of the Opposition has outlined, and that other members have outlined on a number of occasions, we should go to priorities. There was the $3.5 million for a busway that Mr Hargreaves said we will never see in his lifetime. There was $4.5 million for FireLink, a communications system that was never rolled out properly and therefore was mothballed. There was $130 million for Canberra’s ever-shrinking prison. There was $500,000 lost on pay parking which was a considerable inconvenience to elderly Canberrans who had to drive to the hospital. This is what we have to show for seven years of the Stanhope government—a complete lack of management which has resulted in bad priorities for our ageing people.
I would like to go back to COTA’s list of what it sees as priorities. In addition to transport, which I have touched on, a high priority is affordable housing. In here we
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