Canberra Liberals leader Elizabeth Lee will today call on the ACT Labor-Greens government to not proceed with stage 2b of the tram from Commonwealth Park to Woden. She will also call this week on the government to establish a Select Committee on cost of living.
Ms Lee announced late last year that the Canberra Liberals will not proceed with the project if elected in 2024, due to the enormous social costs: stage 2 alone is anticipated to cost more than $3 billion.
“Despite the rhetoric by this government that they can build the tram to Woden and maintain critical government services, the current state of our health system, housing, education, and basic government services clearly says otherwise,” Ms Lee said.
- Light rail has gone off the rails, Canberra Liberals say (5 December 2022)
“The Canberra Liberals will focus on a public transport policy that is driven by good public transport outcomes to ensure fast, reliable, and environmentally friendly services which have been severely lacking under this government.”
The Productivity Commission’s Reports on Government Services, published in the last two weeks alone on housing, health, justice, and police, showed that Canberra was failing on almost every metric, and lagging behind the rest of the country, Ms Lee said.
- ACT has longest ED waiting times in country: ROGS (6 February)
- ROGS: Indigenous overrepresentation in ACT justice system worsening (3 February)
- ROGS: ACT police funding and numbers lowest in Australia (1 February)
The ROGS, Ms Lee noted, show the ACT has:
• fewer public housing dwellings than a decade ago;
• highest rates of long-term homelessness in the country;
• less police than we had a decade ago;
• lowest police numbers per capita in the country;
• lowest conviction and clearance rates in the country;
• highest indigenous incarceration rates in the country; and
• a failing health system including longest emergency department wait times in the country.
Ms Lee said the ROGS highlight what the Canberra Liberals have said for some time now: that the Barr-Rattenbury government is out of touch and not focussed on the right priorities for Canberrans.
“Canberra is the nation’s capital, and what these reports show is that we are failing on almost every metric, and it simply is not acceptable,” Ms Lee said.
“How can anyone look at this data and say the Barr-Rattenbury government is performing as it should, and our rates are being spent on critical government services to serve the community?
“What is clear is that the ACT is failing badly across these areas and more because of decisions made by this government including siphoning money from housing, health, and critical government services to pay for the tram.
“Without substantial investment in these services, the ACT will continue to fall behind, and the Canberra Liberals are committed to ensuring that does not happen.”
Ms Lee said Canberrans deserve the opportunity to live in their own home; have access to world class health and education facilities; more support for teachers, nurses, and police; along with important road upgrades and good basic local services.
This week, Ms Lee will call on the ACT Legislative Assembly to establish a Select Committee on cost of living that impacts many Canberrans.
“The Barr-Rattenbury government,” Ms Lee said, “must show Canberrans they care about what is impacting Canberrans the most, and agree to this select committee that will inquire and report on the cost-of-living pressures facing Canberrans and the drivers of these pressures.
“Canberrans deserve much better than what they are getting from this government, and more times than not it is vulnerable Canberrans, the ones who can least afford it, who are being left behind.”
