Page 4312 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 25 October 2017
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The petition also referred to neglected paths, no lighting, lack of rubbish bins, a broken bubbler and a lack of bus shelters.
This is the story, unfortunately, right across Canberra. Canberra for years had this reputation for having first-class urban services. I do not think you could necessarily say the same today. Whilst the people working in TCCS are doing a great job, and we take our hats off to them, unfortunately they are stretched. They simply do not have the capacity that I am sure that they would like.
In regard to these urban services, we have a very serious issue relating to dog attacks in the ACT. Reference to this is timely, given the tragic events of today in the inner north. We have already flagged that there are serious questions to ask about that particular issue. It is also worth noting that in 2016 there were 155 people that presented to an ACT public hospital emergency department as a result of dog attacks; 155! That is a staggering number. The year before, in 2014, it was 84. This is a huge number of people. We do have to make sure that the urban services are delivered properly. That means empowering the people who are capable and able to do this to actually do it.
There are numerous other things that the government has claimed in this motion with regard to balancing the budget and other financial claims. Of course, this year, the 2017-18 budget, residential rates are up 12 per cent, commercial rates are up five per cent, land taxes are up 18 per cent, motor vehicle registrations are up six per cent and parking fines are up a whopping 38 per cent. This is all compounding as well. This is not just one year in isolation. This is one year on the back of years of solid increases, especially with regard to residential and commercial rates and also land tax. So that increase of 12 per cent is very much a deal-breaker for so many Canberrans. Not only that; it is a budget-breaker as well.
Unfortunately, the ACT government still spends more than it receives. I note that the government has this grand plan to return to surplus. In actual fact, they have claimed that they are even in surplus now. But when you include all the incomings and all the outgoings, the deficit for 2017-18 is $485 million. That is the bottom line in the territory operating statement in budget paper No 3, pages 377 and 378. That is the actual bottom line for the territory in terms of incomings and outgoings. It is far from the balanced budget that the government might claim.
The ACT will be home to 425,000 residents by 2020. We are told that the government is preparing for this population growth by investing in the infrastructure and services needed into the future. As I said, earlier this year the Auditor-General found in her report with regard to maintenance of selected road infrastructure assets that roads in the territory were in an appalling state. The report said:
Ageing road assets and budget limitations have resulted in a backlog of road pavement repairs. Reducing this backlog will likely take years and is best guided by a long‐term strategy.
The strategy needs to be developed. Unfortunately, this strategy has been too long in the coming.
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