Page 1950 - Week 05 - Thursday, 5 May 2011
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The budget also tells us that rather than 100 per cent of the activities identified under the bushfire operational plan being undertaken, only 85 per cent were. I hope the consequences of that 15 per cent shortfall will not be experienced through worse conditions in the next bushfire season. Through estimates, we hope to get to the bottom of that.
The quality of life, cost of living and transport woes all come together at a horror intersection of government policy when it comes to parking. Parking costs are again on the rise and the problem gets worse and worse. Why should people pay more if services deteriorate? As a monopoly supplier of public parking in some areas and the predominant supplier across the territory, the government must be responsible for the provision and pricing of the service.
The Canberra Times reported that people in the city will be paying an extra $1.50, from $10.50 to $12, for parking, and people in Belconnen, Tuggeranong and Woden town centres will pay an additional $1 when prices go up from $7 to $8. This will increase the territory’s coffers by an extra $2.2 million. The government say that this is part of their “integrated approach to achieving a more sustainable transport system”. What this means is that they will try to push people onto buses and bikes by stealth. However, they also know this is not practicable, so they are simply gouging Canberrans who have no choice but to use their cars. This is dishonest. Canberrans should not have the parking woes we have, and this remains one of the legacies of 10 years of Labor.
What did the Greens’ Caroline Le Couteur have to say in the Canberra Times about the parking hikes? “What we’ve seen with indexation is a rise in fees in line with inflation.” Ms Le Couteur, I do not know what world you are living in, but inflation was not 15 per cent in the last year. I ask the Greens to address this point in their response to the budget.
Again, we see in housing a government that sees the acquisition of more public houses and increasing dependency as a good thing. The Canberra Liberals believe in supporting those in our community that need help. We also believe in making housing and living conditions such that as few people as possible get into a situation where they require public housing. We want to see a situation where houses and rents are affordable and people are not driven to a position where they have to go to the state for the provision of housing. This is a crucial policy area where our philosophy differs from those of the other two parties in the Assembly. We want to avoid the need for families to be forced to become dependent on government handouts.
We have also seen the average cost per dwelling of public housing go up from the target of $9,600 to $9,800. This is an amazing figure. Yet, in spite of this incredible cost, the ACT government will still not up the role of the community housing sector in spite of their efficiencies in the sector.
We have also seen an increase in the number of vacant properties that are not re-let within 28 days. Given the high demand for housing because of the huge cost of living pressures in Canberra, this delay has real consequences, and it is a tragedy that we
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