Current Chief Minister Andrew Barr and aspirant Elizabeth Lee debated on ABC last night: https://iview.abc.net.au/show/act-election-2024-leaders-debate/video/NS2442C001S00

ACT Greens: Food relief

Canberra is in the middle of a food crisis, and the ACT Greens have pledged further food relief for households and public school students.

Canberrans who have never needed aid before now rely on charities to put food on the table, the Greens acknowledged. Food relief charity HelpingACT has repeatedly said that food need has doubled in the last two years, while the number of people using the YWCA’s food hub at Lanyon increased by half in six months. 100 new families sought help from St. John’s Care in just one month. The Salvation Army and Woden Community Services report that the number of people seeking help has increased by 21 and 31 per cent respectively, while UnitingCareKippax distributed the weekly number of emergency material and financial aid vouchers in one day.

“Food is not a luxury, it’s essential to our wellbeing,” Emma Davidson MLA said. “But the market is failing us – price-gouging, and forcing people into impossible choices between food and medicine, or food and rent… For many people, this is their first time having to ask for help with the basics, and it’s essential we work together as a community to respond.”

To ensure that support for food relief matches the needs of households in crisis, the Greens would increase funding for community-run relief food programs by $1.32 million over four years ($330,000 annually). This would be on top of the $913,000 already committed in the budget. The extra funding would cover freight for food relief supplies to community pantries and grant funding to community pantries and emergency aid providers.

Mohammed Ali, president of HelpingACT, said the Greens’ election promise to expand the food relief program was “great to see”, while he highly appreciated the $1.32 million funding boost.

The Greens would provide free breakfast and lunch to 20 ACT public schools by 2028 (the same number as Labor pledged last month) ($29.2 million), and provide free fruit twice a week to every student ($8.8 million).

“Providing food at school will improve learning and attendance, and help families struggling to afford enough good food,” education spokeswoman Laura Nuttall MLA said.

Mr Ali believes that the ACT can easily provide meals at 60 schools, thrice the number Labor or the Greens plan. Those schools must be identified based on demography, Mr Ali said. The Greens’ approach is gradual; given the size of the food crisis, Mr Ali believes that, at the least, food programs must begin at all 20 schools by July, and some by the end of this year.

“While it is great that the political parties have felt the heat of the basic food dilemma in the ACT, we need to be prudent to select schools, the more the merrier, and try to start helping as soon as possible.”

Food relief operations are limited in Canberra by the lack of central storage or warehousing facilities. The Greens would consider building such a facility. An action plan would cost $220,000.

The Greens would also fully fund the Social Recovery Framework to help the community recover after a disaster.

HelpingACT, which distributes $1,500 worth of free food weekly, is uncertain whether it will receive any of the $900,000 fund (now increased to $1.32 million by the Greens) for food relief. Mr Ali requested that HelpingACT’s food bank be included in the grant, and that a mechanism be developed to support street pantries, which face regular funding crises and where food supplies empty within a day. Mr Ali also asked for parties to provide storage facilities in north and south Canberra and to help them procure a refrigerated van.

“We thank both Labor and Greens for promising further support towards food relief in the ACT, but feel more should be done,” Mr Ali said. “Food need doesn’t wait. If you need food now, you have to provide it now.”

ACT Labor: Food bank fund

Not to be outdone, ACT Labor announced it would establish a $1.5 million Food Bank Fund to support food banks and community organisations that provide Canberrans with access to food relief and essential grocery items.

Existing organisations experiencing greater demand would be able to apply for one-off top up payments from the fund.

ACT Labor: Rentals

As part of its plan for 30,000 new homes, ACT Labor would support more build-to-rent projects, particularly along public transport routes and in town centres.

Labor would work with the owners and operators of Westfield Woden, Westfield Belconnen and Southpoint Tuggeranong on well-designed build-to-rent projects there, and support build-to-rent projects in Gungahlin Town Centre East, the Molonglo Town Centre, the Acton Waterfront, and Thoroughbred Park. A project in Dickson would cater to the needs of older Canberrans.

Labor would offer financial assistance, such as Lease Variation Charge concessions and grants, to encourage affordable housing.

The Bruce Sports, Health and Education precinct would include a key worker housing project, providing lower than market rents.

Labor called on the federal Liberals and the Greens to support the urgent passage of Commonwealth legislation so that build-to-rent and help-to-buy schemes can be enacted in the ACT.

“We know that Canberrans want more homes to buy and rent, and they want to see the Government building more homes for people who can’t afford it,” a Labor spokesperson said. “Labor has a practical plan to get it done.

“As more and more people choose to call our city home, Labor will continue to deliver the housing Canberrans will need well into the future.”

The Real Estate Institute of the ACT (REIACT) welcomed Labor’s commitment to increasing the supply of properties in the ACT, but cautioned it to consider the balance of new freestanding homes and townhouses versus units.

CEO Maria Edwards said the government’s focus on high rise apartments has increased supply to the point that prices for both sale and rent have fallen, but upsizing for growing families remains difficult. Despite more than 200 available blocks of land in Whitlam and Jacka, the high land costs, starting at $560,000 for the smallest lots, make them financially prohibitive once construction costs are added on.

“We would love to see the Government prioritise making these blocks more affordable to give renters the opportunity to become homeowners in the future rather than concentrating on large scale rental-specific densification,” Ms Edwards said.

Joel Dignam, executive director of Better Renting, commended the ACT on strengthening renter protections in the last four years, leading to a higher vacancy rate and more options for renters. Banning no-grounds terminations and protections against excessive rent increases give renters in build-to-rent dwellings strong security of tenure: “They’re unlikely to get kicked out for the landlord to sell the property, or occupy it themselves.”

“Alongside building more public housing and strengthening renter protections, build-to-rent is another useful approach to give renters more options and aim that people who may not own their house can still have a decent home.”

Canberra Liberals: University of Canberra

The Canberra Liberals would invest $10 million in a research partnership with the University of Canberra (UC), to facilitate a two-way exchange between academic experts and the ACT Government.

“There is a lot of knowledge and valuable ideas in areas like preventative health, school pedagogy, policy evaluation, and digital transformation that we can unlock by working together,” opposition leader Elizabeth Lee said. “This announcement will provide the opportunity to yield better services for Canberrans…

“The investment will enable UC to build on its highly regarded public policy and governance program, offering researchers and students more opportunity to be immersed in public policy challenges and decision-making.”

Chancellor Lisa Paul AO PSM said the university welcomed investment in research, education, and industry collaboration.

The Canberra Liberals would provide 10 $20,000 scholarships to study early childhood education at UC.

“Access to high quality early childhood education plays a crucial role in supporting our children in their learning,” Ms Lee said. “Having access to qualified staff is crucial to this, and a Canberra Liberals Government will look at all options to support and deliver more early childhood educators.”

Professor Barney Dalgarno, Dean of Education, said UC welcomed financial incentives that support the education of a growing teaching workforce in the ACT.

“Quality early childhood education lays the foundation for future success, and scholarships for UC students undertaking study in early childhood education is transformative, particularly as cost-of-living pressures are known to be a barrier to study,” Professor Dalgarno said.

The Independents for Canberra called for more partnerships with local research and education institutions. Candidate Anne-Louise Dawes noted that UNSW had become the Commonwealth and territory’s go-to partner for innovation, defence capability, economic diversification and growth.

“What a future we might have if we could pause politics for a moment – or better yet, build ourselves a sensible crossbench – to really dive into the potential of both institutions,” Ms Dawes said. “We have a chance to supercharge all of our institutions, and Canberra’s future is looking really bright if we do.”

Party leader Thomas Emerson said: “Canberra should be an education destination like Oxford or Cambridge, minus the elitism. More proactive collaboration from the government with local researchers and innovators would go a long way.”