Page 2335 - Week 07 - Thursday, 4 August 2016

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Papers

Mr Rattenbury presented the following papers:

Rail Safety National Law (South Australia) Act—

Rail Safety National Law National Regulations Variation Regulations 2016 (2016 No. 360).

Rail Safety National Law National Regulations (Fees) Variation Regulations 2016 (2016 No. 361)—

together with an explanatory statement to the regulations.

Cost of living

Discussion of matter of public importance

MADAM SPEAKER: I have received letters from Ms Burch, Mr Doszpot, Mr Hanson, Mrs Jones and Mr Wall proposing that matters of public importance be submitted to the Assembly. In accordance with standing order 79, I have determined that the matter proposed by Mr Doszpot be submitted to the Assembly, namely:

The importance of reducing the cost of living pressures for families in the ACT.

MR DOSZPOT (Molonglo) (3.23): It gives me great pleasure to have the honour of delivering the last MPI in this Eighth Assembly of the ACT parliament. And what a suitable topic it is. Probably nothing typifies the legacy of this Stanhope-Gallagher-Barr Labor government better than the cost of living pressures that they have foisted on our Canberra electorate. That is indeed a shameful and a lasting legacy and one felt by every Canberran, whether they are home owners, renters, single, married, with children or without, play sport, commute to work by car or bus, own a business or work as an employee.

In every aspect of Canberra living, you see the interfering and costly hand of this government, whether it is in wanting to be the food police in school canteens, making canteens more costly to operate, whether it is in pushing up the cost of liquor licensing laws or whether it is in lease variation charges that lift costs all the way through from builder to buyer to renter, or whether it is in relation to the car owner or the small businessman who has to put up with a myriad of red tape charges and delays just to get the approvals they need to go about their business.

You only need to open the pages of today’s Canberra Times and you see on page 6 the story headed, “Bottle shop owners say tax hike could force staff cuts”. The story talked about the pressures being faced by about 50 small business owners who would be hardest hit under the proposed changes to liquor licensing. The article quotes Australian Liquor Stores Association Chief Executive Terry Mott, who said that the ACT’s licence laws were already the highest in the nation and further increases would force bottle shop owners to cut staff and jack up liquor prices.


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