Page 2213 - Week 06 - Thursday, 7 June 2018
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I am tired and exhausted and others are tired, and I am not the only one in this situation.
This government is brutal. This policy of theirs is having a real impact. I will give another example, Shirley. Her words are:
The excessive increase to strata rates has impacted severely on my quality of life. I am existing on the war widow’s pension at the advanced age of 91, and coming to Canberra in the 1930s I did not expect that at the end of my life, living in this city would be so difficult. Because of the increases I am forced to cut back on the other expenses such as heating, cooling and food.
This government has let down Shirley, Isabelle and thousands of others. This government is heartless, arrogant, irresponsible and quite possibly corrupt. At the same time that they sting war widows, single mothers and others, they give the CFMEU and the Tradies the use of a building at $1 per year. That is after giving them more than top dollar to buy their building for $3.9 million in a secret deal.
They also do not apply lease variation charges to their own developments with the Labor Club, but they do for everybody else. This government’s priorities are wrong, they are dishonest and they are hurting the people they are meant to represent. This Labor Party is driving people out of this city.
The government is quick to legislate but slow to enforce. This means that the good guys comply while the bad guys get away with it. This is so clear in building quality. We have thousands of pages of the Territory Plan, a huge building code and a lengthy Planning and Development Act. The rules are there but they are not enforced. This means that the good builders get overwhelmed by complying with the regulations while the cowboys continue to ignore them.
The response of government has been to put in more rules and more regulations, but this has not fixed the problem. Does anybody think that after all these years of Labor and their ridiculous planning rules, planning and building quality is better today than it was 10 or 20 years ago?
Their onerous planning regime has failed. The problem is not those that comply with the rules; it is those who do not. Rather than throw more money at regulations, how about you properly enforce the ones you have got? If the regulations are not working, repeal them. We should only have rules and regulations on the books if they can be enforced and are enforced. If not, they should not be there.
I want to be part of a government that opens doors, a government that gives opportunity. Canberrans deserve better from their government. The Canberra Liberals will empower citizens. We will end Labor’s sweetheart deals. We will have one set of rules for everyone. We will give certainty.
Canberrans are enterprising people. We always have been—whether it was Indigenous people surviving and thriving for thousands of years; European pioneers who made a go of it in dry summers and fierce winters; people who relocated here to
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