Emergency department waiting times, the cost of living, and light rail are hardy perennials, debated almost every time the ACT Legislative Assembly sits. In the Assembly’s first sitting week for the new year, here they were once more.

Emergency department waiting times

Canberra Liberals MLA Leanne Castley, Shadow Minister for Health, called on health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith to fix emergency department times within nine months, by having 70 per cent of ED patients seen within clinically acceptable times, as Ms Stephen-Smith had promised in 2021.

Recent data from the Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services for Health revealed that in 2022–23, the ACT performed poorly in ED wait times, Ms Castley argued: only 51 per cent of ED patients were treated within recommended timeframes (well under the national average of 65 per cent, and only marginally up on the 2021–22 figure of 48 per cent).

The ACT lagged behind other jurisdictions on the measure of patients’ stay in the ED (only 47.9 per cent of patients stayed for four hours or less, compared to a national average of 55.8 per cent), especially for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (50 per cent, below the national average of 67 per cent).

Elective surgery waiting times also increased: 30 per cent of patients were not admitted within clinically recommended admission times (up from 24.6 per cent in 2021–22 and 15 per cent in 2020–21).

Additionally, the ACT has the lowest ratio of general practitioners per 100,000 people among major Australian cities.

Ms Stephen-Smith negated Ms Castley’s motion. She declared that the ACT’s emergency departments had worked to improve their performance over several years, including introducing key roles, establishing services like the new Acute Medicine Unit at Canberra Hospital, and providing additional training for staff.

Recent data from July to December 2023 showed a marked improvement, Ms Stephen-Smith said: 61.8 per cent of patients started ED treatment on time (a 17 per cent rise in performance from the same period in the previous year); median wait time to treatment was 25 minutes; and 55.6 per cent of patients left ED within four hours or presentation. In December, 68.1 per cent of patients started treatment on time, and 63.3 per cent left within four hours. The new Critical Services Building, which will open later this year, will have a new emergency department, operating theatres, and more in-patient capacity, Ms Stephen-Smith said.

Cost of living

Canberra Liberals leader Elizabeth Lee called on the ACT Government to explain why the cost of living was so high, and to alleviate cost of living pressures for all Canberrans.

Canberra, Ms Lee remarked, had the highest cost of living in Australia, according to the cost-of-living database Numbeo (unreliable, according to the Chief Minister); the second highest costs to see a general practitioner, to rent, or to buy a house; the highest vehicle registration costs; and was the most expensive state or territory for children’s sport.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed that living costs for all household types had increased; community groups such as the ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) reported a significant increase in wage earners accessing their services; and retail spending had fallen by 3.8 per cent in the last quarter, well above the national rate of 2.7 per cent, “demonstrating that Canberrans are really feeling the pinch”.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr negated Ms Lee’s motion. Instead, the ACT Government would monitor the impacts of cost of living on Canberra households, continue to deliver targeted cost-of-living support, and provide a cost-of-living statement in the 2024–25 Budget.

Mr Barr noted that more expensive essential products and interest rate increases had placed many household budgets under pressure. Both the ACT and Commonwealth Governments had introduced concessions and subsidies to address cost-of-living pressures. Canberra’s Consumer Price Index increased by 0.4 per cent in the December quarter, the lowest among capital cities, while the annual rise of 3.7 per cent was lower than the national increase of 4.2 per cent.

Light rail

Canberra Liberals MLA Mark Parton, Shadow Minister for Transport, claimed that the ACT Government had not been transparent about the true cost and timeframe of light rail stage 2A (City to Commonwealth Park), and called on the government to table the full costings and timeframe for stages 2A and 2B (Commonwealth Park to Woden) by June.

According to Mr Parton, the $577 million costings for light rail stage 2A, released in December, did not include the cost to raise London Circuit, upgrades to the depot, and purchasing more light vehicles, which Mr Parton calculates brings the total to more than $800 million for a 1.7 km extension. Similarly, the original timeframe of 2024 has been extended to 2028, four years longer.

Chris Steel, Minister for Transport, said that the ACT Government had been upfront and transparent in communicating Light Rail costs, and was committed to revealing costs once contracts were signed and the procurement finalised.

Contracts for Light Rail Stage 2A were published in January, with a delivery cost of $575.3 million. Additional contracts for five new light rail vehicles, retrofitting batteries, expanding the depot, and raising London Circuit cost $129.6 million and $81.7 million, respectively. The Commonwealth Government had pledged $125 million, bringing its total funding to $343.9 million. Work on Light Rail Stage 2A will begin in late 2024, and services will start in January 2028, the minister said.

Mr Parton challenged the government to admit that if stage 2B were completed, R4 and R5 cross-city bus services would not continue, and public transport from the south would take 15 minutes longer. Mr Parton’s motion was negatived.

HRIMS

Mr Steel, as Special Minister for State, apologised for the failings of the Human Resource Management Information System (HRIMS), responding to an ACT Auditor-General’s report published last year.

The HRIMS program, developed in 2017, aimed to modernise human resource practices across 18 directorates and for 28,000 ACT Government employees, but faced challenges, leading to its termination last year. That decision, Mr Steel said, avoided an estimated additional cost of $140 million. The government will now upgrade existing payroll and human resource systems, and develop a new time and attendance system, “at less risk and a lower cost to the Territory”, Mr Steel said.

Canberra Liberals Peter Cain MLA called for Mr Steel to resign for wasting $78 million.

Human rights incompliant companies – divestments

The ACT Government holds investments in companies the United Nations lists as complicit in Israeli illegal settlements in Palestine – including Airbnb, Alstom, Booking Holdings, Expedia Group, Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi Le-Israel, Israel Discount Bank, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, and Motorola Situations. ACT Greens MLA Andrew Braddock called on the ACT Government to divest from these companies. The government will report back by August.

Poker machines will be prohibited in the Molonglo Valley and undeveloped areas of the ACT, following the passage of Labor MLA Dr Marisa Paterson’s bill, despite concerns from the Canberra Liberals that services that clubs could provide would be limited without gaming revenue.

ACT Greens MLA Jo Clay proposed legislation to stop fossil fuel companies like Santos, BHP, and Woodside from advertising inside ACT Government sports venues. Labor MLA Suzanne Orr introduced a bill to establish a social model of disability within ACT law.