Page 1249 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 3 April 2019
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an increasing rate for many households and businesses. When you add to this electricity, gas, water and other household expenses, it really is putting huge strain on many families.
At the same time, many people are seeing a reduction in their quality of life due to services not keeping pace with the fees and charges they are paying. While an elderly couple on a pension of course cannot afford these ever-increasing fees and charges, to date the government’s response has been, “Don’t worry. You can put it onto your estate; you can put it into a death tax.” We in the Canberra Liberals do not think this is reasonable. When fees and charges are increasing at the pace at which they are, we do not think the response should be to put it in a death tax. We firmly believe that is treating the symptom not the cause. The cause is, of course, the ever-increasing cost of living in the ACT. The expenses are adding up.
Canberrans pay much and receive very little in return. I believe the government could be a much lower cost jurisdiction if they simply managed their expenses better. But instead it is quite the opposite—we are a high cost jurisdiction. We have seen it in so many ways: changes to how they calculate rates, by making changes to the methodology; changes to the rates and land tax regime; and so many other fees and charges. It is no wonder that so many low income families are struggling to meet their financial obligations.
Whilst Ms Cody’s motion touches on concession programs available to Canberrans, it is not widely known that these concession programs are available. In fact, as we saw in the most recent version of the rates bills, it seems the government is actively discouraging people from paying their rates in part payments. The Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission found that Icon Water was failing to pay rebates for planned disruptions, which is a breach of the minimum service standards. Canberrans were entitled to thousands of dollars in rebates from Icon Water, a corporation wholly owned by the government.
Ms Cody’s motion recognises that many people in our community are struggling with cost of living pressures. I believe the government should be doing more to accommodate these individuals in our city. Extending the period for the payment of fines for six months and introducing incremental payment options for motor vehicles is a start, but we need to have more practical and long-term policies. We need to make sure we are dealing with the quantum and not just how it is paid. We also think there is a need to ensure that penalties associated with paying in increments are removed.
Of course, it says a lot that Ms Cody needs to bring this motion to the Assembly. It is obviously not just core business for the government. Why did it not happen two years ago? Why did it not happen six years ago? Why did it not happen 18 years ago? Either they have not done the modelling they should have done on the impact their fees and charges are having or they do not want to know what the impact is.
We will be back in a few weeks to hear about the ACT budget. We hope these ideas will be incorporated in the budget. As is usual for Labor backbench motions, I am sure we will have a government announcement in a few weeks to try to give a certain backbencher a win. But the reality is this should have happened years ago. As I said
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