Canberra Liberals accuse government of wasting money and breaking election promises
There are only five sitting days until the end of this Legislative Assembly term, and the Canberra Liberals are on the attack.
Party leader Elizabeth Lee has two motions this afternoon, one alleging that the Labor-Greens government has wasted hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, the other that they will fail to deliver their 2020 and even earlier election commitments.
Ms Lee will call on the government to apologise and take responsibility for “having no respect for ACT taxpayers’ money”. She adduces the following instances of government profligacy:
More than $80 million spent on an abandoned Human Resources Information Management System (including $636,000 for an IT system that was never used).
Overspending through the Digital Health Record, including overpaying one company several million dollars. (The ACT Integrity Commission is investigating.)
Lendlease was paid more than $900,000 above the preferred tenderer for the Campbell Primary School Modernisation Project. The Integrity Commission is investigating the CFMEU and Deputy Chief Minister Yvette Berry’s office for corruption. The government is covering both ACT Education Directorate Katy Haire’s court action against the Commissioner to stop the investigation and the Commissioner’s legal fees, believed altogether to exceed $95,000.
Disgraced former CIT CEO Leanne Cover gave $8.8 million to ‘complexity and systems thinker’ Patrick Hollingworth. Ms Cover continued to be paid more than $1.1 million while stood down.
Ms Lee criticised the government’s financial management, noting a reported deficit of more than $1 billion, projected total borrowings of more than $19.3 billion by 2027–28, and forecast interest expenses of more than $855 million by 2027–28.
In her other motion, Ms Lee takes issue with Deputy Chief Minister Yvette Berry’s claim that ACT Labor does not “make promises we can’t deliver”. She estimates that the government has not delivered two in five of its commitments, according to the 2023 Parliamentary and Governing Agreement Progress Update.
Ms Lee claims that Labor is failing to deliver many of their 2020 election commitments by the end of this term, including building walk-in health centres, a new southside hydrotherapy pool, a northside elective surgery centre, upgrading endoscopy rooms and a palliative care ward at Canberra Hospital, a new primary school at Strathnairn, a Gungahlin tennis centre, Stromlo District playing fields, and upgrading Gorman House. Ms Lee also claims that Labor will fail to deliver 2016 election commitments, such as duplicating Athllon Drive and a new Tuggeranong ice rink.
Ms Lee wants Ms Berry to apologise for her claim, and to list every single election commitment Labor has failed to deliver since 2012.
ACT Labor has been asked for comment.
Belco Party: More power to integrity commission
To address political corruption, the Belco Party proposes that the Integrity Commission form a taskforce of half-a-dozen former police sergeants – like their candidate, Jason Taylor – to investigate government directorates “where there are suspicions that things are not quite right and above board”, co-convenor and former Attorney-General Bill Stefaniak said.
The former police officers could be sworn in as special constables, with powers of search and arrest, able to charge suspects with crimes, or suggest ways for directorates to clean up their act.
Until recently, Mr Stefaniak said, there have been no allegations of political malfeasance and corruption in the ACT, but recent incidents suggest that behavioural standards in the government and public service are loosening.
“The deployment of these former police officers for a sufficient period would either uncover some real problems or, if not, put the community’s concerns to rest,” Mr Stefaniak said.
City stadium costs
The ACT Government revealed earlier this week that the cost of building a new 30,000-seat stadium on the Civic pool site could reach nearly $3 billion – 400 per cent higher than a 2021 feasibility study’s estimate of $582 million. A new stadium in Bruce would cost between $1.4 and $19 billion, and refurbishing the Canberra Stadium $1.2 billion.
Elizabeth Lee called the costings “downright bizarre and without basis”, and demanded that Yvette Berry explain the 400 per cent increase. She suggested that if infrastructure costs have risen so sharply, the government would need to revise its entire infrastructure spending plan, previously costed at $8.5 billion, to $34 billion.
The ACT Government was asked yesterday for comment.
Tuggeranong skatepark
ACT Greens MLA Laura Nuttall will call on the ACT Government to upgrade and redevelop the Tuggeranong skatepark by 2027.
Ms Nuttall argues that the skatepark, built in 1997, does not meet modern standards.
Nearly 800 people signed a petition presented in June calling for the government to improve the skatepark. Ms Berry (as minister for sport and recreation) said the ACT Government would “consider opportunities for Tuggeranong skatepark in future stages of [the Government’s] suburban infrastructure program”.
Anti-consorting legislation
Debate will resume today on Elizabeth Lee’s bill that would empower police to prevent outlaw motorcycle gangs from consorting in Australia.
The legislation would align the ACT with other jurisdictions, Ms Lee said: the ACT is the only jurisdiction without anti-consorting laws, which former Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan said attracts outlaw motorcycle gangs and organised crime to Canberra.
ACT Policing said that outlaw motorcycle gangs were heavily involved in criminal offending, from drug importation and trafficking, to money laundering and other violent offences.
“Sometimes this criminality isn’t apparent to the rest of the community, but their continued involvement in in the distribution of illicit drugs and other criminal offences causes significant harm and contributes to other types of offending in our communities,” a spokesperson said.
Several gangs were operating in the ACT, or seeking to establish a permanent presence. However, in recent years, police have thwarted new OMCGs’ efforts to establish their operations in the ACT.
The Australian Federal Police Association (AFPA) supported Ms Lee’s motion. President Alex Caruana said it was sensible legislation with safeguards in place to ensure the legislation is not misused.
Mr Caruana said the lack of anti-consorting legislation made the ACT a meeting location for organised crime syndicates: outlaw motorcycle gangs frequented Canberra because they cannot meet in large groups and wear colours in many other jurisdictions.
Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury said the Bill was “just another example of Liberal fearmongering about a problem that actually doesn’t exist here”. The ACT had a small number of outlaw motorcycle gangs and members. Police minister Mick Gentleman said that anti-consorting laws’ effect in combatting organised crime was limited, and could interfere with the human rights of vulnerable groups.
Mr Caruana said that the AFPA supports oversight and scrutiny by the Ombudsman Office and the ACT Legislative Assembly, including the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety. In his view, anti-consorting should focus only on serious and organised crime syndicates and possibly people within the community that wish to do harm via acts of terrorism and violence.
Ms Lee also took aim at allegations that bikie gangs, criminal gangs, and underworld figures had infiltrated the construction branch of the CFMEU, a union that she said influences ACT Labor leadership positions and has made large donations to the party. The union, Ms Lee noted, may have influenced the awarding of the contract for the Campbell Primary School Modernisation Project.
An ACT Labor spokesperson said: “The Canberra Liberals’ motion is clearly just a political stunt. The Government remains committed to community safety, including tackling organised crime. That is why, under ACT Labor, crime rates in the ACT remain low. ACT Policing remains well positioned to deal with community safety issues as they arise.”
Coercive control
Canberra Liberals MLA Leanne Castley’s bill to criminalise coercive control, with a maximum penalty of imprisonment for seven years, did not pass the Assembly yesterday.
Five states have already criminalised coercive control, Ms Castley noted.
Yvette Berry (as minister for the prevention of domestic and family violence) argued that the legislation would disproportionately affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Ms Castley, however, noted that a 2023 study by Monash University showed that 85 per cent of First Nations victim-survivors of domestic and family violence and 87.5 per cent of victim-survivors surveyed thought that coercive control should be criminalised.
Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury acknowledged that coercive control was a pervasive and harmful aspect of domestic violence, and a common factor in nearly all domestic homicides in Canberra. However, Mr Rattenbury thought it was premature to introduce such legislation. In his opinion, the ACT should observe and learn from other regions, like New South Wales and Queensland, which recently implemented similar laws, before making any legislative changes. Moreover, criminalizing coercive control could lead to the misidentification of perpetrators, particularly affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and disabled women.
The ACT Government, Mr Rattenbury said, is working within a national framework to address coercive control, in line with the National Principles to Address Coercive Control in Family and Domestic Violence. The government allocated $375,000 in the 2024-25 budget for training and public education campaigns to better identify and respond to coercive control.
Teach in Canberra campaign
The ACT Government has launched a campaign to recruit teachers from Greater Western Sydney, regional NSW, regional Victoria, regional Queensland, and New Zealand to work in Canberra.
“We want teachers across Australia and New Zealand to know that ACT public schools are leaders in public sector education,” Yvette Berry (this time as education minister) said.
The ACT offers competitive pay and conditions, Ms Berry said: new educator salaries start from $86,253; the government provides up to $12,000 to cover relocation expenses; a three-year support program for graduate teachers is in place; and the Enterprise Agreement for teachers is “among the best in the nation”.
The Education Directorate is working with schools and universities in Canberra and regional NSW to use expos and career days to encourage students to become teachers.
Through the Permit to Teach program, students in the final part of their degree from the University of Canberra, Australian Catholic University, Charles Sturt University (CSU) campuses in NSW, and Swinburne University can receive paid placement in an ACT public school.
“We need to hire more teachers to meet the needs of our growing city, and we are committed to ensuring that we address the challenges of the national teacher shortage to keep delivering a high-quality public education system across our city,” Ms Berry said.
Angela Burroughs, president of the Australian Education Union (AEU) ACT branch said: “The ACT, like all jurisdictions urgently needs more teachers. The AEU ACT Branch welcomes the government’s renewed efforts to attract more teachers to Canberra. Teacher retention is also critically important. The AEU will continue to push the government to explore more creative and courageous solutions to address teacher attraction and retention.”
Justice plan for the disabled
The ACT Government has released its Disability Justice Strategy Second Action Plan, a roadmap for the next four years to ensure the justice system honours disabled people’s rights and needs.
The plan includes a program to help intellectual disabled people better understand and advocate for their rights, an expanded support service trial in courtrooms, and a legal sector internship program for disabled women.
The plan emphasises intervention and support programs to divert people from the criminal justice system; safeguards to protect disabled people from abuse, violence, and neglect within the justice system; and enhancing communication, accessibility and cultural responsiveness across all justice agencies.
Attorney-General Rattenbury said the Second Action Plan marked another step toward creating a more inclusive and equitable justice system for Canberrans with disability.
