Page 459 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 17 February 2016
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How our city is planned, how our local environment is preserved and how our city is connected are also fundamental to our quality of life. We are privileged to live in a beautiful bush capital. In recent years, however, we have seen Civic and our town centres degenerate significantly whilst our suburban environment has been spoiled in many places. The planning regime and the land release program have become almost unworkable and are not providing good outcomes for anyone.
We support effective policies to reduce carbon emissions, but our environmental policies must also be focused on local conservation across the ACT. We will improve and simplify the planning laws and ease the fees and charges that are stifling innovation and growth, and sending so many of our local city builders interstate. Our laws are resulting in poor planning outcomes and are not supporting homebuyers.
We will increase density and vibrancy in town centres and create a true city heart in Civic while maintaining the character of our suburbs. We will improve the flawed land release system that has been the greatest impediment to affordable housing in the ACT.
Urban maintenance and our local environment is also an area in dire need of attention. Madam Speaker, you would, I am sure, agree that Territory and Municipal Services should not be viewed as a second-order priority as they have become under the current government. Equally, public transport, road infrastructure and roads have been heading backwards under the Barr government. We will invest in buses and road infrastructure that will provide better outcomes and quicker transport for all Canberrans across all of our suburbs. This includes better public transport from Gungahlin along Northbourne Avenue, which can be significantly improved without spending nearly a billion dollars on a tram and tearing down all of the trees.
As a Liberal, it is in my DNA to support economic growth and grow business, as it is for all of my colleagues. It is important to understand that this is not an end in itself but because of the social benefits and the jobs that economic growth creates and the consequential ability to deliver world-class services and infrastructure for all of Canberra. But economic growth requires a dynamic and confident private sector supported by government. We need a cultural change away from the anti-business class warfare view of society that dominates many in this CFMEU-affiliated Labor Party to one that recognises the value of business to our community.
We also need to transition away from Canberra’s dependency solely on the federal government and take advantage of sectors where Canberra is well placed to take a nation-leading role, including education and ICT. This can only be achieved by fixing the ACT’s restrictive tax and regulatory regime and embracing a culture of innovation and enterprise. We must make Canberra a place where people want to do business.
Through cultural change and targeted policies, we will drive growth and job creation by encouraging innovation and entrepreneurial culture. We will reduce the tax and regulatory burden on business and we will provide better targeted support for key commercial sectors.
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