Speech in the Legislative Assembly

6 May 2010

The budget the Treasurer presented on Tuesday is one that unfairly hurts families and makes hard-working Canberrans pay the price for Labor’s mismanagement of the public’s finances.

The situation was well described by the Leader of the Canberra Liberals, Zed Seselja, at the Canberra Business Council’s budget breakfast yesterday. At the event, he described the state of play as being the “least bang for the most bucks.”

In deed, this government has disregard for public money. The ALP and Greens share the philosophy that governments are better at making decisions about individuals’ finances than the individuals themselves.

We on this side of the chamber believe that what makes our community great are the people that comprise it. I have the utmost confidence in Canberrans’ ability to invest in their and their family’s future. We do not need a Government that over-reaches into our pockets.

We all acknowledge that there is a need for limited taxation to deliver efficient services to Canberrans. However, what we have from this Government is excessive taxation for the delivery of poor services.

It is the average Canberra family that is subsidising this Government’s poor decision making and the pet projects of the Chief Minister and the Greens.

Next year, the average person will pay $3,127 to the ACT Government for taxes and rates. That is, every man, woman and child is paying in excess of $3100 to the ACT Government and it’s on the rise. This is in addition to our federal taxes, including GST. Does anyone in Canberra think we’re getting good value for money? I argue no. This Government is a poor custodian of our money.

Often, its families in the suburbs, like the suburbs I represent in Ginninderra that are paying above and beyond their fair share for sub-standard services and infrastructure.

The government’s mismanagement of our Territory is clearly depicted through the increased revenue measures to be introduced from 1 July. The changes to the betterment tax are a massive tax on families and are in addition to all the other increases to fees and charges.

I look forward to scrutinising the Government ministers in Estimates so that we may find out where some of the wastage is so that we can try to bring reforms to this Government.

As a Shadow Minister in the Liberal Opposition, I have responsibilities for Urban Services, Transport Services, Housing, Heritage and Youth. Today, I will be briefly addressing how the budget impacts on these areas.

It is in the Department of Territory and Municipal Services that we see so many missed opportunities when it comes to the delivery of core services and basic infrastructure for Canberrans.

In the Ernst and Young report which was reluctantly released by a government included findings such as:

“…less priority is afforded to financial discipline both organisationally and individually and the consequences of overspending are not evident.” (Page 4)

“Senior management and Strategic Finance have limited visibility of the activities performed within the Department and the costs of undertaking them.” (Page 4)

“TAMS has yet to clearly articulate the alignment between its core business activities, government’s policy priorities, its service delivery objectives, the indicators needed to monitor service delivery performance against these objectives and the supporting financial budgeting.” (Page 4)

“In order to manage the risk of developing services at financial expenditure which exceeds budget, TAMS needs to institutionalise a culture of fiscal restraint.” (page 11)

What these problems point to is poor leadership and no desire to improve.

ACTION

The ACTION authority is a prime example of a part of the ACT Government failing to meet its targets despite large sums of money being spent.

Page 113 of Paper 4 of the 2010-2011 budget paints a sorry tale of the state of play at the bus network. We saw the timeliness of ACTION services slip again to 82%. Of course, as was discussed in committees here at the Assembly last year, this figure only represents what time the buses are leaving the depot, not the timeliness of their services en route. We also see in the budget that the customer satisfaction indicator has fallen to 80%.

Perhaps most disappointing of all for this Government that prides itself on environmental sustainability with public transport being an important pillar of that platform, rather than increasing, the modal share for action decreased by 5% and ACTION patronage fell by 801,000. In fact, there were 1.33 million less customer boardings than the target.

We saw the cost per vehicle kilometre went up to $4.13 and the total cost per passenger boarding increased significantly to $6.30.

The percentage of operations ACTION receives from fares is just 20.1%. There is little which is sustainable about that.

Yet, in spite of these poor figures, ACTION employed around 60 more full time equivalent staff than targeted.

The question has to be asked, are Canberrans happy with the bus service they are getting for the fares and the $76 million subsidy.

TAMS

The budget for the rest of TAMS does not describe a rosy affair.

Canberrans are suffering from years of neglected infrastructure and failure to properly invest in our future. Only the Canberra Liberals have a plan to get Canberra’s infrastructure and infrastructure delivery back on track.

The percentage of roads in good condition has slipped to 88%. Further more, the Government only managed to resurface about half of the roads they were meant to in 2009-2010.

This year, Canberrans sent more waste per capita to landfill. While the ACT Government claims to be committed to a No Waste city, their predictions are for a further rise in waster over the coming year. This stands in contrast to the Government’s original target of “No Waste by 2010″. Of late, we have seen a tangible objective morph into an unlikely “aspirational” target.

We have also witnessed a marginal increase in the cost of curbside collection over the past year. The Government has committed $327,000 this year, to the expansion of landfill at the Mugga Lane tip.

In yet another appalling display, Canberrans will be paying even more for parking their cars. I understand the cost will increase by $1.50 in the city taking the all day rate to $10 or more. This is an unfair slug on Canberra families.

In the Treasurer’s speech on Tuesday, she said:

“We are introducing some limited increases to fees and charges in this Budget. Parking fees will increase, in line with our objectives to encourage a shift to alternative modes of transport.”

However, if that is true, why was there such a hefty increase for bus tickets introduced on 1 July last year? Surely, if the government is in the business of using price levers to alter transport preferences, it would not have had increased bus fares by so much – as much as 49%.

I think a more sustainable measure to get people on to buses would be to make the buses run more efficiently. This would mean more services and more direct services for the same money could be offered. Surely this would be a more sustainable way of getting people on to buses than is driving up the price of parking.

We know there is relatively low elasticity of demand for parking, meaning that even when prices increase, the level of demand will not decrease by as much as it would if it were another product. The Government knows this, and knows that they can increase the cost of parking and people will still pay it. It’s a cash grab.

Tell the family in Dunlop who goes to work in Woden, drops off the kids on the way, comes home via the shops or picking up a child from soccer training that they should be using a bus.

This government is out of touch.

I note also that the Government is deferring the street tree planting program. However, surely the tree removal program will continue according to need. So, does this mean that as trees are removed from our urban environment, they will not be replaced? Again, the Government should be able to manage this situation better.

Housing

In housing, the average cost per dwelling has risen by 3.75 % to $10, 073. The overall satisfaction of tenants with the provision of public housing has also fallen by 1%. Furthermore, the percentage of tenants owing more than four weeks rent and with debts greater than $500, sits at 15%, exceeding 2009-2010 targets by 5%. This area of government is a policy vacuum and we all expect better.

Heritage

Within the Heritage portfolio, the budget has allocated funding of almost $1 million for a number of projects aimed at preserving the heritage of the ACT including the restoration and interpretation of Robertson House Oaks Estate, Tralee Homestead and Cargill’s Dairy Cottage. The installation of Heritage Signage at various sites, and improvements to the Ginninderra Blacksmith Workshop are also on the agenda.

We should be proud of the history of Canberra. The history of Canberra, and Australia more generally is not one of wars and revolutions. In stead, it’s a history of quiet achievers determined to better their lives and to improve the lives of their families and future generations. The history of Canberra and the region is very much consistent with this. I hope the Government gives due attention to promoting and sharing this heritage of ours.

Youth

There are a number of initiatives in this year’s budget that have been marketed as being beneficial for young people. However again we see very little in the way of a forward plan for service delivery specifically for the youth of the Territory.

While The ACT has a significant ageing population, we continue to have a higher proportion of young people than the national average. (2001 ABS data indicates that 21.9% of the population in the ACT are aged 12-25 years (74,371) compared with 19.3% nationally (Youth (12-25yrs) (ACT & Australian data: 2001 Census)

Where is the forward planning for the implementation of the ACT Young People’s Plan in this Budget? The government has waxed lyrical about the ‘whole of government policy framework for all young people in the ACT’ but where is the foundation to implement this?

Infrastructure funding for items such as CIT Vocational Education in Gungahlin, a new Gungahlin Library within the Gungahlin College, and a Gungahlin Health Centre is welcome but again, we eagerly await the successful delivery of this infrastructure.

I also note the average cost per custody day at the Bimberi youth justice centre is extremely high at $1,340.

Ginninderra Electorate

For the Ginninderra electorate, including all the suburbs in Belconnen, Nicholls and Hall, there is some news.

The Lake Ginninderra Foreshore upgrade is still ongoing – this project has been ongoing for a number of years. The scope has changed and I don’t think anyone is really across what the project involves, when it will conclude and how much it will cost.

$200,000 has been allocated to the design of a skate park in Belconnen, however there is no date proposed for the commencement of construction. It is also not clear where it will be located.

A major bus stops program will be implemented in Kippax and new park and ride and bike and ride facilities will be provided for Belconnen residents along with a program to install bus shelters across Canberra. However, there are serious concerns about whether the government can actually deliver it.

The suburb of Flynn has been allocated $4 million for a community childcare centre, however once again the views put forward by the Flynn community have been ignored by the government. The Flynn community believe that the proposal put forward by the government does not allow for a sustainable community hub. The John Flynn Community Group and Flynn Primary School Parents and Citizens Association have gone to extraordinary lengths to find a workable and amicable solution based on a multi-use hub with a wide range of services managed through a community consortium.

Roger Nicoll from the John Flynn Community Group said:

“We were shocked to learn over the ANZAC weekend that the Government appears to have turned its back on Flynn again and ignored the detailed plan for a sustainable community centre that has been worked up by our community over the past four years.”

The people of Flynn have been let down by this Government and there is little indication of that changing.

Conclusion

This government has record revenue and expenditure to match. However, we don’t have the unprecedented services that should go hand in hand with this.

I’m sick of this government measuring everything by how much it spends. I want to be part of a Liberal Government that prides itself on how little money we take from taxpayers.

It’s not good enough for higher expenditure to be the mechanism by which success is measured. We need to shift the focus to outputs, not inputs.

We should be looking at all our services and deciding whether the government should be delivering them, or whether businesses or community groups are better placed to serve our community.

Canberrans pay too much tax and get very little in return. This culture of big spending and bad services must end.

This budget fails our finances, fails our families and fails the Territory.

The budget the Treasurer presented on Tuesday is one that unfairly hurts families and makes hard-working Canberrans pay the price for Labor’s mismanagement of the public finances.

The situation was well described by the Leader of the Canberra Liberals, Zed Seselja, at the Canberra Business Council’s budget breakfast yesterday. At the event, he described the state of play as being the “least bang for the most bucks.”

In deed, this government has disregard for public money. The ALP and Greens share the philosophy that governments are better at making decisions about individuals’ finances than the individuals themselves.

We on this side of the chamber believe that what makes our community great are the people that comprise it. I have the utmost confidence in Canberrans’ ability to invest in their and their family’s future. We do not need a Government that over-reaches into our pockets.

We all acknowledge that there is a need for limited taxation to deliver efficient services to Canberrans. However, what we have from this Government is excessive taxation for the delivery of poor services.

It is the average Canberra family that is subsidising this Government’s poor decision making and the pet projects of the Chief Minister and the Greens.

Next year, the average person will pay $3,127 to the ACT Government for taxes and rates. That is, every man, woman and child is paying in excess of $3100 to the ACT Government and it’s on the rise. This is in addition to our federal taxes, including GST. Does anyone in Canberra think we’re getting good value for money? I argue no. This Government is a poor custodian of our money.

Often, its families in the suburbs, like the suburbs I represent in Ginninderra that are paying above and beyond their fair share for sub-standard services and infrastructure.

The government’s mismanagement of our Territory is clearly depicted through the increased revenue measures to be introduced from 1 July. The changes to the betterment tax are a massive tax on families and are in addition to all the other increases to fees and charges.

I look forward to scrutinising the Government ministers in Estimates so that we may find out where some of the wastage is so that we can try to bring reforms to this Government.

As a Shadow Minister in the Liberal Opposition, I have responsibilities for Urban Services, Transport Services, Housing, Heritage and Youth. Today, I will be briefly addressing how the budget impacts on these areas.

It is in the Department of Territory and Municipal Services that we see so many missed opportunities when it comes to the delivery of core services and basic infrastructure for Canberrans.

In the Ernst and Young report which was reluctantly released by a government included findings such as:

“…less priority is afforded to financial discipline both organisationally and individually and the consequences of overspending are not evident.” (Page 4)

“Senior management and Strategic Finance have limited visibility of the activities performed within the Department and the costs of undertaking them.” (Page 4)

“TAMS has yet to clearly articulate the alignment between its core business activities, government’s policy priorities, its service delivery objectives, the indicators needed to monitor service delivery performance against these objectives and the supporting financial budgeting.” (Page 4)

“In order to manage the risk of developing services at financial expenditure which exceeds budget, TAMS needs to institutionalise a culture of fiscal restraint.” (page 11)

What these problems point to is poor leadership and no desire to improve.

ACTION

The ACTION authority is a prime example of a part of the ACT Government failing to meet its targets despite large sums of money being spent.

Page 113 of Paper 4 of the 2010-2011 budget paints a sorry tale of the state of play at the bus network. We saw the timeliness of ACTION services slip again to 82%. Of course, as was discussed in committees here at the Assembly last year, this figure only represents what time the buses are leaving the depot, not the timeliness of their services en route. We also see in the budget that the customer satisfaction indicator has fallen to 80%.

Perhaps most disappointing of all for this Government that prides itself on environmental sustainability with public transport being an important pillar of that platform, rather than increasing, the modal share for action decreased by 5% and ACTION patronage fell by 801,000. In fact, there were 1.33 million less customer boardings than the target.

We saw the cost per vehicle kilometre went up to $4.13 and the total cost per passenger boarding increased significantly to $6.30.

The percentage of operations ACTION receives from fares is just 20.1%. There is little which is sustainable about that.

Yet, in spite of these poor figures, ACTION employed around 60 more full time equivalent staff than targeted.

The question has to be asked, are Canberrans happy with the bus service they are getting for the fares and the $76 million subsidy.

TAMS

The budget for the rest of TAMS does not describe a rosy affair.

Canberrans are suffering from years of neglected infrastructure and failure to properly invest in our future. Only the Canberra Liberals have a plan to get Canberra’s infrastructure and infrastructure delivery back on track.

The percentage of roads in good condition has slipped to 88%. Further more, the Government only managed to resurface about half of the roads they were meant to in 2009-2010.

This year, Canberrans sent more waste per capita to landfill. While the ACT Government claims to be committed to a No Waste city, their predictions are for a further rise in waster over the coming year. This stands in contrast to the Government’s original target of “No Waste by 2010″. Of late, we have seen a tangible objective morph into an unlikely “aspirational” target.

We have also witnessed a marginal increase in the cost of curbside collection over the past year. The Government has committed $327,000 this year, to the expansion of landfill at the Mugga Lane tip.

In yet another appalling display, Canberrans will be paying even more for parking their cars. I understand the cost will increase by $1.50 in the city taking the all day rate to $10 or more. This is an unfair slug on Canberra families.

In the Treasurer’s speech on Tuesday, she said:

“We are introducing some limited increases to fees and charges in this Budget. Parking fees will increase, in line with our objectives to encourage a shift to alternative modes of transport.”

However, if that is true, why was there such a hefty increase for bus tickets introduced on 1 July last year? Surely, if the government is in the business of using price levers to alter transport preferences, it would not have had increased bus fares by so much – as much as 49%.

I think a more sustainable measure to get people on to buses would be to make the buses run more efficiently. This would mean more services and more direct services for the same money could be offered. Surely this would be a more sustainable way of getting people on to buses than is driving up the price of parking.

We know there is relatively low elasticity of demand for parking, meaning that even when prices increase, the level of demand will not decrease by as much as it would if it were another product. The Government knows this, and knows that they can increase the cost of parking and people will still pay it. It’s a cash grab.

Tell the family in Dunlop who goes to work in Woden, drops off the kids on the way, comes home via the shops or picking up a child from soccer training that they should be using a bus.

This government is out of touch.

I note also that the Government is deferring the street tree planting program. However, surely the tree removal program will continue according to need. So, does this mean that as trees are removed from our urban environment, they will not be replaced? Again, the Government should be able to manage this situation better.

Housing

In housing, the average cost per dwelling has risen by 3.75 % to $10, 073. The overall satisfaction of tenants with the provision of public housing has also fallen by 1%. Furthermore, the percentage of tenants owing more than four weeks rent and with debts greater than $500, sits at 15%, exceeding 2009-2010 targets by 5%. This area of government is a policy vacuum and we all expect better.

Heritage

Within the Heritage portfolio, the budget has allocated funding of almost $1 million for a number of projects aimed at preserving the heritage of the ACT including the restoration and interpretation of Robertson House Oaks Estate, Tralee Homestead and Cargill’s Dairy Cottage. The installation of Heritage Signage at various sites, and improvements to the Ginninderra Blacksmith Workshop are also on the agenda.

We should be proud of the history of Canberra. The history of Canberra, and Australia more generally is not one of wars and revolutions. In stead, it’s a history of quiet achievers determined to better their lives and to improve the lives of their families and future generations. The history of Canberra and the region is very much consistent with this. I hope the Government gives due attention to promoting and sharing this heritage of ours.

Youth

There are a number of initiatives in this year’s budget that have been marketed as being beneficial for young people. However again we see very little in the way of a forward plan for service delivery specifically for the youth of the Territory.

While The ACT has a significant ageing population, we continue to have a higher proportion of young people than the national average. (2001 ABS data indicates that 21.9% of the population in the ACT are aged 12-25 years (74,371) compared with 19.3% nationally (Youth (12-25yrs) (ACT & Australian data: 2001 Census)

Where is the forward planning for the implementation of the ACT Young People’s Plan in this Budget? The government has waxed lyrical about the ‘whole of government policy framework for all young people in the ACT’ but where is the foundation to implement this?

Infrastructure funding for items such as CIT Vocational Education in Gungahlin, a new Gungahlin Library within the Gungahlin College, and a Gungahlin Health Centre is welcome but again, we eagerly await the successful delivery of this infrastructure.

I also note the average cost per custody day at the Bimberi youth justice centre is extremely high at $1,340.

Ginninderra Electorate

For the Ginninderra electorate, including all the suburbs in Belconnen, Nicholls and Hall, there is some news.

The Lake Ginninderra Foreshore upgrade is still ongoing – this project has been ongoing for a number of years. The scope has changed and I don’t think anyone is really across what the project involves, when it will conclude and how much it will cost.

$200,000 has been allocated to the design of a skate park in Belconnen, however there is no date proposed for the commencement of construction. It is also not clear where it will be located.

A major bus stops program will be implemented in Kippax and new park and ride and bike and ride facilities will be provided for Belconnen residents along with a program to install bus shelters across Canberra. However, there are serious concerns about whether the government can actually deliver it.

The suburb of Flynn has been allocated $4 million for a community childcare centre, however once again the views put forward by the Flynn community have been ignored by the government. The Flynn community believe that the proposal put forward by the government does not allow for a sustainable community hub. The John Flynn Community Group and Flynn Primary School Parents and Citizens Association have gone to extraordinary lengths to find a workable and amicable solution based on a multi-use hub with a wide range of services managed through a community consortium.

Roger Nicoll from the John Flynn Community Group said:

“We were shocked to learn over the ANZAC weekend that the Government appears to have turned its back on Flynn again and ignored the detailed plan for a sustainable community centre that has been worked up by our community over the past four years.”

The people of Flynn have been let down by this Government and there is little indication of that changing.

Conclusion

This government has record revenue and expenditure to match. However, we don’t have the unprecedented services that should go hand in hand with this.

I’m sick of this government measuring everything by how much it spends. I want to be part of a Liberal Government that prides itself on how little money we take from taxpayers.

It’s not good enough for higher expenditure to be the mechanism by which success is measured. We need to shift the focus to outputs, not inputs.

We should be looking at all our services and deciding whether the government should be delivering them, or whether businesses or community groups are better placed to serve our community.

Canberrans pay too much tax and get very little in return. This culture of big spending and bad services must end.

This budget fails our finances, fails our families and fails the Territory.