The ACT Government’s acquisition of the Calvary Public Hospital site was the most controversial issue to emerge from this week’s Legislative Assembly sitting, but other health and property issues were debated, too.

• Calvary takeover bill introduced to ACT Assembly (11 May)
• ACT government claims Calvary negotiations failed (11 May)

Royal Commission into the ACT Health System – proposed establishment

The Canberra Liberals’ call to establish a Royal Commission into the ACT health system failed on Tuesday.

Acting leader Jeremy Hanson MLA argued that the situation in ACT Health could not continue: there was a crisis every week; the Australian Medical Association (AMA), clinicians, cardiologists, and midwives called the system “broken”; and the ACT Government refused to provide answers, or did not fix the problems.

• Liberals call for Royal Commission into ACT health system (4 May)

Mr Hanson claimed that the health system had significantly deteriorated since the power-sharing arrangement of 2012; between 2015-16 and 2018-19, the Labor-Greens government cut real health expenditure per person by 3.6 per cent. Chronic underfunding put the community at risk – evident in long waiting lists, Canberrans missing out on treatment, and a toxic workplace culture.

Professor Walter Abhayaratna, president of the ACT branch of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), believes that a high-level review of some sort is necessary.

“We’ve lagged near the bottom of the country’s results, and we should be doing better,” he said. “I strongly suspect that what we’re doing at the moment is short-term fixes which don’t address … the fundamental issues.”

C40 Green and Healthy Streets Accelerator Initiative

The ACT Government will sign the C40 Green and Healthy Streets declaration for Canberra, pledging to procure only zero emission buses from 2025 and ensure a major area of the city is zero emission by 2030.

“When signing the pledge, you are committed to transforming your city into livelier, healthier, and more prosperous place to live, with a focus on increasing the rates of walking and cycling and the use of public and shared transport that is accessible to all citizens,” Labor backbencher Suzanne Orr said.

“The commitments of the C40 Green & Healthy Streets pledge will help push the ACT Government to do more work on this area, and is an opportunity for Canberra to be better recognised by international cities for all the work we do.”

Canberra will be the first Australian city to sign. Paris, London, Los Angeles, and Amsterdam have already signed the pledge.

The government, however, refused to rule out a petrol-powered car ban in any specific section of the city over the next decade.

Payroll tax exemption proposal – general practices

On Wednesday, shadow health minister Leanne Castley (Canberra Liberals) called on the ACT Government to exempt general practices from a new interpretation of payroll tax that considers tenant GPs as employees rather than as contractors.

The ACT has the lowest percentage of bulk billing GP clinics (5.5 per cent) and the highest average out-of-pocket costs ($49.11) in Australia, as well as the lowest number of GPs per capita and double the percentage of people who avoid seeing a GP due to cost. The AMA and the Royal Australian College of GPs have warned that the payroll tax could make healthcare unaffordable for many; it will force clinics to put charges up further, or close.

• Price hike for Canberra doctors on the cards (20 April)
• Federal Labor’s second budget: Prosperity, missed opportunity, or inequality? (10 May)

Chief Minister Andrew Barr negatived the motion. He stated that the application of the contractor provisions had not changed; all employers pay payroll tax on employees, and payments to contractors are considered taxable wages.

Professor Abhayaratna said the AMA is is holding discussions with the Chief Minister’s office, to argue that the ACT, “with the out-of-pocket expenses that exist in our healthcare system, cannot afford further cost through a payroll tax”.

Rental ombudsman

The ACT Government passed Greens MLA Johnathan Davis’s motion to establish a rental ombudsman or commissioner to investigate breaches of rental law, resolve disputes, issue infringement notices, and advise the government on improving renters’ rights.

Mr Davis noted that Canberra was among the most expensive capital cities in Australia to rent; essential workers (including nurses, teachers, and aged care workers) suffered high rates of rental stress; and people on income support payments could not afford to rent in Canberra.

Tenants who wished to challenge a breach of their rights must escalate the dispute to the ACT’s Civil and Administrative Tribunal, but often did not understand rental laws or the tribunal system; they faced financial barriers; they could not take time off work for tribunal hearings; and they were reluctant to confront a landlord in an adversarial legal environment.

Mr Davis argued that a multi-tiered system to resolve disputes between renters and landlords would be more efficient and effective.

Shadow housing minister Mark Parton accused the Greens of delivering higher rents and more homelessness (breaking their election promise); claimed Housing ACT was the worst landlord in the ACT, because many properties were uninhabitable; and called upon the Assembly to condemn housing ministers Yvette Berry and Rebecca Vassarotti. His amendment failed.

• ACT public housing properties need repair, Canberra Liberals say (9 June 2021)
• Canberra Liberals petition for better public housing (31 July 2021)

Property developer licensing scheme

On Friday, the Legislative Assembly voted to set up an Australia-first licensing scheme for property developers, who must meet a “fit and proper person” test to build apartments and higher-risk developments. A penalty scheme will bar some developers from working in the ACT.

“Property developers play a critical role in the building and construction industry; however, they are not held to the same standard as other participants,” the motion’s proponent, Labor MLA Michael Pettersson, said.

“They are not regulated, and they are not licensed. Canberrans want to see property developers licensed because they want to see the local industry improved and rogue operators shown the door.”

• Labor MLA: ACT Government ‘dragging its feet’ on developer licensing (22 November 2022)
• CFMEU: ‘Time for talk is over’ in ACT developer regulation (2 February)

The government will also review the Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Act 2009.

“The current system to obtain payment of debts is ineffective and not as advanced as other jurisdictions,” Mr Pettersson said.

Processes to obtain payment via an adjudication certificate are reportedly complex and difficult to navigate, while some respondents use corporate insolvency to avoid paying workers’ entitlements, tax remittances, and creditors.

The ACT Government will also advocate for the Federal Government to create a strong national security of payments regime.

The Assembly also agreed to Canberra Liberals MLA Peter Cain’s amendment that the government publish the Listening Report on the community engagement on the Developer Regulation Discussion Paper by the end of this month.

Canberra Health Services rebranding exercise

Leanne Castley called upon the ACT Government to terminate its $800,000 contract to rebrand (or ‘refresh’, as the government terms it) Canberra Health Services, and its $850,000 project program for dedicated staff, and redirect the money saved to frontline health services. Moreover, the government should stop spending vital health money on rebrand exercises.

• Canberra Health Services rebrand: marketing or makeover? (21 February)

In Ms Castley’s view, the rebrand relied on “fallacious assumptions that a lack of clear branding” prevented CHS from becoming a leading specialist provider, and a rebrand would improve the perceived quality of its services. She noted Johnathan Davis, the AMA, and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation had criticised the expenditure.

The ACT Government negatived Ms Castley’s motion. Health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith argued that the ‘brand refresh’ would make it easier for the public to navigate between, and access, CHS services, and improve awareness and understanding of CHS services.

Cost of Living report

The Select Committee on the Cost of Living Pressures in the ACT published its report on Thursday morning.

The Committee, chaired by Johnathan Davis, was established in February.

The report made 52 recommendations in the areas of health, education, housing, legal services, income support, planning, community services, utilities, sport, transport, and urging the Federal Government to increase the rate of all income support payments above the Henderson poverty line.

The Auditor-General should audit the management of the Growing and Renewing Public Housing Program, the committee recommended. Mr Davis claimed the ACT Government was trying to walk away from its commitment to provide 400 more public housing properties by 2025. “That’s unacceptable… The ACT Government must recommit to that target and find a way to honour it.”

In a dissenting report, Mr Davis called on the government to freeze and cap rents (as the Greens proposed last week).

• ACT Greens call for two-year rent freeze (3 May)

Similarly, Liberals member Nicole Lawder recommended that GPs be exempt from the recent extension of payroll tax, to reduce costs for GPs, and avoid even higher out of pocket expenses for patients; that ACT Labor cease profiting from poker machine revenue through donations from the 1973 Foundation, “which is an outrageous conflict of interest and is hypocritical in the extreme”; and that the ACT Government cease its “endless and exponential” increases of rates and land tax, stop overregulation of the rental market, and release more blocks of land for housing.

• ACT online problem gambling bill causes problems (2 June 2022)
• Anglicare: ACT’s ‘significant crisis’ of rental affordability (27 April)
• Mark Parton calls for government clarity on ACT land release (20 October 2022)