ACT Chief Minister and Treasurer Andrew Barr released the 2022–23 Budget this week, saying it would set Canberra up for population growth and economic growth.
But in Canberra Liberals leader Elizabeth Lee’s view, the Budget is “big on spin, big on promises, big on announcements”, from a government that fails miserably at delivery.
“This government is a financially, morally, and socially bankrupt farce,” Ms Lee said in her budget address last night. “This government is out of touch, out of ideas, and out of energy.”
Earlier this week, she called for a budget audit of the ACT’s finances, which the government voted down.
She also moved a no-confidence motion in Mr Barr, which will be voted on later this month.
After ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury announced his party would not support a $41 million subsidy for the racing industry, Ms Lee declared: “This budget does not even enjoy the full support of the cabinet, let alone the Canberra community.”
- Liberals move no-confidence in Andrew Barr (3 August)
“The ACT is in the worst financial position since self-government,” Ms Lee alleged. “The years of mismanagement under this Chief Minister will impose enormous hardship on future generations of Canberrans.”
Net debt is forecast to be $6.5 billion this financial year and almost $10 billion in the forward estimates. To service this debt, Ms Lee said, Canberrans will pay half a billion dollars on interest repayments alone each year by 2024–25.
“The Chief Minister is failing to listen to his own Directorate to have a plan for sensible, responsible economic management,” Ms Lee said. “And he is failing to listen to Canberrans on the government services they need.”
She referred to a newspaper article in which Mr Barr stated the extra money from GST distributions to the Territory was not needed to deliver more services, because the government already met demand.
“For all his deflecting and fearmongering,” Ms Lee said, “he still hasn’t answered a crucial question: For all the spending; for all the debt; what is our community getting? Where has all that money gone?”
The ACT’s health system was in crisis, Ms Lee declared, mismanaged and under-resourced long before COVID. Canberra had the worst emergency department and elective surgery waiting times in Australia: patients were treated in the corridors of the emergency department; doctors and nurses were at breaking point; and the ageing infrastructure was falling apart.
- ACT nurses and midwives call for recovery plan (30 July)
- Health system is bleeding staff, Canberra Liberals claim (18 May)
“This is the result of deliberate, long-term neglect and under-resourcing by Labor and the Greens,” Ms Lee said.
“Year after year, hospital upgrades have been promised, abandoned, promised, rescoped, promised, then delayed.”
The Canberra Hospital redevelopment, expected to open in 2024, will have been more than 15 years in the making by then, she said.
The education system was not meeting demand, Ms Lee claimed. Academic standards had gone backwards; violence and bullying were so bad that WorkSafe ACT banned students from coming to school; there were crumbling infrastructure and hazardous materials in learning spaces; and there was a massive teacher shortage.
The ACT Government were “brought kicking and screaming” to plan for recruitment and retention of more teachers only under pressure from the Canberra Liberals, the teachers’ union, and the community, Ms Lee said.
- New taskforce aims to make ACT public schools safer (25 July)
- ACT Government to address Canberra’s teacher shortage (2 June)
- Liberals want government taskforce to respond to ACT’s education crisis (1 September 2021)
- Liberals’ report criticises education strategy and school infrastructure (22 June 2021)
- Liberals give ACT Government a failing school report (21 June 2021)
Police services did not meet demand, she said. Canberra had the lowest number of police per capita, and the lowest clearance rates for property crimes.
- ACT police understaffed claim Liberals, union (10 February)
City services were neglected, Ms Lee said: “grass not mown, cracked footpaths not fixed, potholes not filled, and now garbage not even being collected weekly, while rates go up alarmingly each and every year”.
- Liberals call for long-term mowing plan (25 November 2021)
- City maintenance a problem in suburbs, Canberra Liberals say (24 July 2021)
Almost 40,000 Canberrans live in poverty, including nearly 9,000 children. The government showed “utter disregard” for Canberrans living in public housing – witness “the debacle that is the heartless relocation of tenants, through to the years and years of neglect of basic maintenance” – while more than 3,000 people waited for public housing, Ms Lee said.
- ACT ‘disastrous’ poverty levels predicted to worsen (6 May)
- Liberals and ACTCOSS call for more support for vulnerable Canberrans (6 October 2021)
- Government rejects investigation into ACT poverty (16 February 2021)
“The core of all this rot comes from a government that is long past its use-by date, completely lacking integrity, and not governing in the best interest of Canberrans,” Ms Lee said.
This term alone, the ACT Government was “embroiled in serious issues of probity” over the Campbell Primary School modernisation project, which triggered an Integrity Commission inquiry into procurement across the entire ACT Government.
- Canberra Liberals accuse Berry over Campbell procurement (5 April)
- Liberals call for audit of ACT Government procurements (1 March)
- Building tenderers urged to report suspicious procurement processes (23 February)
In the CIT contracts scandal, almost $9 million in taxpayer funds were paid to a single contractor to provide “unintelligible and jargon-filled” services that did not deliver value for money. Skills minister Chris Steel promoted Deputy Chair Kate Lundy (a former Labor Senator) to Chair of the CIT Board, even though she oversaw many of these contracts, and “flat out refused” to answer the Liberals’ questions on notice or respond to Freedom of Information requests. (Mr Steel’s office told CW providing information to the Liberals could hinder or interfere with the ACT Integrity Commission’s investigation.)
- Liberals say government not answering questions about CIT contracts (22 July)
- Integrity commission to review CIT contracts (23 June)
- Liberals concerned by Kate Lundy’s appointment as CIT chair (22 June)
- Chris Steel will use ministerial powers to direct CIT (17 June)
- Elizabeth Lee: CIT internal review ‘rings alarm bells’ (17 June)
- CIT promises independent audit of multi-million Think Garden contract (15 June)
- CIT’s $9 million contracts a concern for taxpayers (7 June)
“The arrogance; the delusion; the lack of accountability is breathtaking,” Ms Lee said.
The ACT Government, in her opinion, “is well beyond its use-by date; … has long stopped governing for the people of Canberra; … has fostered a culture of secrecy and has completely eroded the trust of the community”.
Ms Lee has proposed amendments to the Freedom of Information legislation to publish Cabinet documents within 30 days.
- Liberals call for Labor and Greens to ‘walk the walk’ on transparency (7 July)
- Liberals call for greater ACT Government transparency (27 May)
As a unicameral parliament, she stated, the Legislative Assembly does not have the benefit of an upper house to provide additional scrutiny.
“The lukewarm response from this Labor-Greens government seems to indicate that they are only interested in talking the talk when it comes to integrity.”
She called on Labor and the Greens to take integrity in government seriously and commission a review similar to the Queensland Labor government’s recent Coaldrake Review, which called for a reform of the public accountability culture.
“There is so much murkiness; so many closed-door decisions,” Ms Lee said. “A wholesale review of integrity in government will go some way to restoring much-needed confidence and trust for the Canberra community; trust that has been eroded to its lowest ebb under this Labor-Greens government. This situation must change.”
Ms Lee also announced a new shadow portfolio of Housing Affordability and Choice to ensure housing affordability and choice are within the reach of every Canberran.
The government had rejected all of the Canberra Liberals’ calls to improve housing affordability and choice, Ms Lee claimed.
Last week, Mr Barr announced a housing package that would develop 30,000 new dwellings over the next five years. But, Ms Lee said, the “grand pronouncement … is baseless”. Blocks to be released for standalone housing will be reduced by 51 this year, and Mr Barr will reduce dwellings by 17 – even though Canberra has 20,000 more people than previously thought.
Ms Lee concluded her address with an exhortation to all Canberrans to vote for her at the next election in 2024:
“Labor and the Greens have taken you for granted. Labor and the Greens do not respect you; nor do they care about governing in your best interests. Labor and the Greens are out of touch; out of ideas; and out of energy.
“A Canberra Liberals government that I lead will always respect you and will always value the enormous trust you place in us to be your voice. A Canberra Liberals government that I lead will govern for every Canberran, and make sure that our most vulnerable are not left behind. A Canberra Liberals government that I lead will govern with integrity and it will always be about you, our community.”
Chief Minister’s response
Mr Barr retorted that Ms Lee was an economic conservative, like her predecessor, Alastair Coe, and that her proposed audit was a cost-cutting proposal that would leave the ACT worse off.
“Despite her stated concerns about public debt this week, the Opposition Leader has once again failed to tell Canberrans what services, jobs, or infrastructure she wants to cut from the ACT Budget in order to reduce debt,” Mr Barr said.
“She wants an independent audit of the Territory Budget for the purpose of identifying areas to cut. What other purpose could it possibly serve?
“The obvious questions must be asked: will she cut jobs in the public service like Campbell Newman did with his audit? Will she cut health and education funding like Tony Abbott did with his audit?
“Until she is upfront with Canberrans on her plans, then why should Canberrans trust that her party has really changed [and] moved on from [the] failed, ideologically driven, debt and deficit fetish espoused by the right wing of the Liberal Party.
“The Budget in reply was an opportunity for the Opposition Leader to drag a party infamous for ‘Lower taxes, better services’ economics back into a mature debate on fiscal policy in the Territory.
“Instead, we see that nothing has changed. A list of reviews and renamed shadow portfolios is not an economic and fiscal alternative, and this is another failed test for the Canberra Liberals.”
