Paying the price for Labor’s failures

I thank those who have gathered in the gallery. I do not know how many are here for the Greens and how many are here for ours! I rise to respond to another Labor budget chock-full of false promises, most of which will never be delivered. They certainly will not be delivered as they have been outlined in this document.

As a territory, we are in a massive red hole, and we are digging in deeper and deeper as each month goes by. This budget does not show us the way out. The government have taken decisions in this budget that will worsen the net operating balance by $784 million, as compared to what they said in the midyear review in February. Sure, there are some additional revenue decisions made in this budget, and they raise an additional $136 million over the four years. But the additional spending decisions will cost just shy of a billion dollars over the same period.

As Saul Eslake said on local ABC Radio yesterday morning, and I will quote him directly, “This government still has a very strong predisposition to spend money as more money comes in.” And he is right. I will also quote Mr Eslake from the report he prepared for the committee examining our fiscal unsustainability. He said that we find ourselves in this dire financial situation entirely because of policies and decisions made by the current government.

The budget shows us that our total borrowings by 2029-30 will be $23.7 billion. That means that if we channel all the residential rates money, every single dollar paid by every homeowner and every rental property, if we pool all that money together, it will not be enough to pay for the interest bill on our debt.

When Andrew Barr first became Treasurer at the end of the Stanhope era, we did not owe anything. Mr Barr inherited clean books. They are not clean now. The daily cost of interest payments now is $2.3 million—$2.3 million today, tomorrow, Sunday, Monday—and the amount of borrowings just keeps getting bigger. We need to understand that Labor got us here, with some help from the Greens. But Labor got us here, and we should never forgive them. We should not trust them to get us out.

The budget should lay out a framework through which a government intends to manage the territory’s finances in order to make life better for people, to make their lives easier, to help them to get ahead. And this budget does not deliver that. The people of Canberra are doing it tough. They are working hard. They are raising families. They are caring for ageing parents. They are paying higher rates, higher rents, higher mortgages, higher fees and higher charges. They are trying to keep small businesses open. They are trying to find a home that they can afford. They are trying to get a child into the health system. They are trying to feel safe in their own city. They are trying to believe that this government is listening to them, and it is not.

Too many Canberrans have been left more vulnerable, not more secure—vulnerable to the rising cost of living, vulnerable to a housing market that has locked too many people out, vulnerable to stretched health services and longer waits, vulnerable to crime, antisocial behaviour and declining confidence in public safety. They are vulnerable to a government that keeps asking them to pay more while delivering less. This is the central failure of this budget. It does not meet the moment. It does not ease the pressure on families. It does not restore confidence in the basic services that Canberrans rely on, and it does not offer the change that this city needs now. The people of Canberra are paying the price for years of policy failure, drift and neglect under this ACT Labor government.

After a quarter of a century in office, Labor can no longer blame circumstance, bad luck, the Middle East or anyone else. But, of course, they do. The failures we see today are the result of decisions taken by this government, priorities set by this government and promises broken by this government.

We have had some extraordinary announcements from government about the delays in some infrastructure projects, including the Kingston arts precinct project, which, according to Mr Barr, is not the longest delayed project since self-government. I am not sure which one is. The Treasurer has told us that he is adjusting the infrastructure delivery program so that it is more realistic. Those are the Treasurer’s words. We are making the infrastructure delivery program more realistic. Does that mean that the promises were not realistic when they were made? Is that what it means? I can only interpret it that way.

It is a bit like the promise of a surplus which has been made in every single budget since 2012 and never, ever delivered—ever. Nobody believes that this government will get back into black numbers in the third year of the forwards. Even the Treasurer does not believe it. He reads the talking points with conviction, but he does not believe it.

Nobody should.

The government’s announcement on delays to infrastructure projects was the moment that the government finally conceded that they had run out of money. It was the moment that they conceded to the community that we are broke. It was the moment they admitted that they were wrong and we were right, all along.

We have been right on a number of things, Mr Speaker. We warned in 2012 that the residential rates would triple under the current tax reform, and it turns out that they have. They have tripled. Prior to the election in 2020, Mr Barr promised that the tram would get to Woden by 2025. We are halfway through 2026, and we are nowhere near it.

When it comes to the budget, a comparison of last year’s budget and this one sees a number of stage 2B tram items being scaled back or disappearing from the budget papers. It was alluded to by Mr Braddock earlier. In last year’s budget, there was a commitment to engage a technical adviser for detailed design from Commonwealth Park to Woden. That commitment does not appear in the current budget. It is not there.

When it comes to further spending on 2B, the budget only shows unconfirmed provisions of $15 million to $50 million in 2028-29 and no firm contracts behind them. After years of promises, there is still no cost, no contract and no completion date. The Chief Minister spoke on the weekend about the North Canberra Hospital project being the biggest infrastructure project this decade, which would suggest that there will be no forward movement on stage 2B of the tram until at least 2030.

This budget confirms what we have been saying for years, despite Mr Steel’s non-answers in question time today. The tram to Woden is an uncosted pipe dream, with no firm capital commitment, no timeline and no price tag, just vague provisions years down the track.

Canberrans are sick of the spin that this government inserts in all of its budgets. Today, I can announce that we will introduce legislation to establish a charter of budget responsibility for the ACT. A charter of budget responsibility will strengthen transparency, accountability and fiscal discipline in the territory. It will help to ensure that governments cannot hide the true state of the budget, they cannot bury the long-term cost of decisions or ask Canberrans to pay more without actually showing them why.

Our charter will mandate budget honesty, fiscal discipline, intergenerational equity, year-to-year comparability, program-level transparency and appropriation integrity in law. It will require clear fiscal rules. It will require honest reporting of debt and interest costs. It will require the government to disclose unfunded commitments, temporary funding cliffs, whole-of-life infrastructure costs and fiscal risks.

It will require the budget to show when services are being funded with temporary money. It will require the budget to be comparable from one year to the next. It will require public money to be traceable between the program, project or budget measure that the Assembly approved. We will also pursue targeted amendments to the Financial Management Act to strengthen appropriation integrity. This is about restoring trust.

For the Canberra Liberals, our priorities are clear: cost-of-living relief, budget repair, backing small business, and returning Canberra to being a place where people can invest, employ and grow. They want to control business; we want to unleash business. Across Canberra, too many local businesses are being hit from every direction—higher taxes, higher rates, higher levies, more red tape, falling foot traffic, and rising operating costs.

The story we hear from business owners is very clear. This Labor government does not listen, does not understand and does not seem to care enough about the people who are taking risks, employing locals, investing their savings and keeping our town centres alive. The ACT has become one of the hardest places in the country to run a business, and it should not be that way. Business growth is weak, payroll tax is too high, commercial rates keep rising and land tax keeps rising. New levies keep appearing, compliance obligations keep expanding and, from 1 July, the payroll tax threshold will be lowered from $2 million to $1.75 million, pulling more businesses into that tax net. Every business that closes takes jobs, investment, local spending and community confidence with it. Every empty shopfront is a sign that something has gone wrong.

The Canberra Liberals government will take a different approach. We will treat small business as an economic partner, not a revenue source to be squeezed. We will look seriously at the compliance burden. We will review tax settings, we will make it easier to start, operate and grow a business in Canberra, and we will work with the business community, not lecture it from the sidelines.

A Parton Liberal government will back the people who back themselves. We are a party of aspiration. Earlier this year, I embarked on “Parto’s pub crawl”, which was a roaring success. You can come to the next one, Chief Minister! Canberrans from all walks of life told me that they have never been more worried about crime and the feeling of insecurity that is enveloping our community. Not a week goes by when a serious crime against a person is not reported in the media.

Earlier this year, I read out in the chamber a letter from a constituent sharing an incident involving her son, who was bashed while working in a local shop. I can tell you, Mr Speaker, that the video of that speech has now had some 48,000 views, with my office receiving many other stories like this. Labor is soft on crime and soft on tackling the causes of crime.

In May, my colleague and deputy leader, Mrs Morris, moved a motion calling for wider day-to-day wanding powers for our hardworking police. The “safer summer” trial proposed to give ACT Policing handheld metal detection wands in Canberra’s CBD, Civic, and Braddon. The pilot would provide valuable local evidence to determine whether a permanent “Jack’s law” style public-place wanding scheme should be rolled out in the ACT. Sadly, Labor members, Greens members and Mr Emerson voted against a practical safety tool being made available to use in public places.

When it comes to knife crime, it is very clear, based on the feedback that comes in from many sources, that there is a problem. Alarmingly, between 2020 and 2025, knives were involved in 21 homicides in the ACT. Therefore, a Parton Liberal government will introduce a “safer summer” pilot for the summer period 2028-29, should we win government in October 2028.

Canberrans should be able to walk through Civic without feeling intimidated, unsafe or unwelcome, and that is just not the reality for so many people. We know that a government-commissioned report recorded around 600 incidents of antisocial behaviour in the city centre over just 22 days. These incidents included alcohol abuse, offensive language, drug use, vandalism, harassment and threats towards members of the public. It is not an abstract problem. It is being felt in our streets, in our shops, in our public spaces and by families across Canberra.

At the same time, wastewater data shows methamphetamine use in Canberra has surged towards record highs. Meth is not just another drug. Meth destroys lives. It fuels violence, intimidation, theft and family breakdown. It places enormous pressure on police, paramedics, emergency departments, mental health workers, outreach services and families who are left to pick up the pieces, long after the headlines have moved on.

It is why a Parton Liberal government will re-criminalise methamphetamine. It is not because we have given up on people trapped in addiction; it is quite the opposite. We will re-criminalise meth because we refuse to pretend that a drug causing serious harm in our community should be treated as just another minor infringement. The Labor-Greens experiment with the decriminalisation of meth has failed. It has failed families dealing with drug-fuelled violence, theft and intimidation. It has failed frontline police and small businesses left to manage the consequences. Most importantly, it has failed the people trapped in addiction, because a $100 fine is not treatment, rehabilitation or recovery.

We will take a different approach. We will restore consequences for meth possession and use, because community safety matters. We will also strengthen the pathways into rehabilitation, outreach, mental health support and treatment, because recovery matters, too.

Mr Speaker, parts of Canberra are in serious decline and are decaying. You only need to leave this building and walk across the road to see graffiti-plastered shopfront windows, boarded-up shops and lease signs. A year ago, I tabled a report into graffiti management, after a self-funded study tour of local councils in New South Wales and Victoria, and I came away impressed by how active, practical and determined many of those councils were in tackling graffiti.

They did not just shrug their shoulders. They did not hide behind the question of whether a wall was publicly or privately owned. In places like Blacktown, Sydney, Wollongong, Queanbeyan, Melbourne, and the Yarra council in Melbourne, the approach is very clear: if there is graffiti in high-traffic, public-facing areas, remove it quickly, because that is how you restore pride. That is how you deny vandals the reward of seeing their tag staying up for weeks, months or even years, when it comes to this place.

Canberrans are speaking. Businesses, families and residents are telling us they feel less safe, they see more disorder and they want to know why the government does not seem to hear them. Businesses in the city centre and parts of Braddon already pay the City Centre Marketing and Improvements Levy. That money should be visibly reinvested back into the city, into cleaner streets, safer public spaces, better lighting, faster graffiti removal, and practical support for businesses that are tired of carrying the cost of government neglect.

The Canberra Liberals will establish dedicated graffiti blitz teams to target Civic public and private buildings that face onto public spaces. We will work with businesses, property owners, community groups and volunteers, including organisations like Graffiti Busters, to provide the supplies, the safety equipment, the training and the coordination needed to clean up our city. This is not just about removing paint; it is about sending a message that Canberra is cared for, that people are being heard and that, under a Parton Liberal government, we will restore pride, order and confidence in our city.

Community safety is also about the health and wellbeing of our people, and that is why we have appointed dedicated shadow ministers for men’s health and women’s health, and why we are building policy around lived experience, frontline workers and community organisations. Canberrans must be able to access the health care they need when they need it.

For far too long, too many women suffering from endometriosis, chronic period pain and pelvic pain have been left to navigate a system that is fragmented, frustrating and too slow. Many women in the ACT have been told that pain is simply something to endure. Today, I can announce that a Parton Liberal government will expand endometriosis and pelvic pain treatment services at the Canberra Hospital. Debilitating period pain, chronic pelvic pain, missed days of work, study and family life, years of being told that it is somehow normal: it is not normal. Endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain are real, serious and life-altering conditions. They affect education, work, relationships, fertility, mental health and quality of life. Our health system should treat them with the seriousness they deserve.

The ACT does have services available, including the Canberra Endometriosis Centre, and a federally funded pelvic pain clinic. These services matter, but women continue to tell us that the care remains fragmented, inconsistent and difficult to navigate. The clinic we propose will build on existing services that provide a more comprehensive and dedicated model of care, bringing together pelvic physiotherapy, specialist pain care, endometriosis nursing, psychology, trauma and mental health support, specialised diagnosis and treatment, and improved local access to diagnostic equipment.

It will be backed by additional nurses, medical officers and specialists, supported by clear referral pathways and designed as a standing commitment—not a pilot, not a temporary program, not another patchwork of disconnected services. It is about saying to women across Canberra: we hear you, we believe you and we will treat your pain with the seriousness that it deserves.

The same principle must guide our approach to mental health and suicide prevention. Too many people in Canberra are suffering quietly, too many families are carrying grief, and too many warning signs are being missed until it is too late. As we have said in recent months, we flag our intention to introduce a suicide prevention bill for the ACT, a bill grounded in the belief that suicide prevention must be a whole-of-government responsibility. It cannot sit in one directorate. It cannot be treated as an afterthought. It must involve health, education, justice, community services, housing, police, emergency services and the broader community sector. We will introduce this important bill before the end of the year.

Under a government that I lead, we stand by our commitment from 2024 in real terms regarding the size of the bus fleet, growing it to adequately serve our city and introduce a legislated service guarantee, ensuring that Canberrans get a reliable and frequent seven-day timetable—something that has been denied to them by this government.

Canberrans are hurting, interest rates are increasing and households are feeling the pinch, and this government chooses to inflict even more pain on Canberrans who are struggling to get by. At the height of the recent fuel crisis, we proposed 50c public transport fares as a way of helping to relieve that burden. Minister Steel rejected that idea. I commit to delivering 50c bus and tram fares across the entire network for every journey every day.

There are more than two years to come before we go to the polls again. Between now and then, I will announce a detailed policy suite so that Canberrans are very clear about what we would like to deliver for our city. Policy work in opposition is a hard slog. The government’s policy-making machine is, without exaggeration, 100 times bigger than ours. They have the luxury of many more Assembly staff and, additionally, Treasury and the entire public service to assist with policy development. The opposition does not, and our staffing budgets are continually nobbled by government.

Notwithstanding that, we are aiming to be the government after the election of 2028 and, as such, we will be releasing that full suite of policies in the lead-up to that poll. Those policies will aim to deal with, among other things, the dire fiscal position that we find ourselves in. We are mindful of the fact that it took Labor 25 years to get us into this mess; it will take more than four years to get us out of it. It will require some discipline. It will require some out-of-the-box thinking. It would also be helpful if we had not experienced the debacle of the CIT contracts controversy. It would be helpful if we had not endured the $77 million abandoned payroll and HR system debacle, or the $64 million MyWay+ debacle, all under the watch of the Treasurer. We cannot afford to make mistakes of that nature, and we will not.

We are continuing to examine government expenditure line by line, and that work continues, including areas such as travel, consultants, contractors, communications and other discretionary spending. The budget shows us that the ACT government is still spending $400 million a year on contractors and consultants. It also shows $165 million in a single year for communication, travel and staff development. We will examine these areas carefully and sensibly, with a view to achieving further savings of between 10 and 25 per cent, and that includes considering a 25 per cent reduction in spending on travel and consultants.

The Queensland Liberal government has saved millions of dollars, and is set to save millions of dollars, in the infrastructure and procurement space by stripping back a framework similar to our Secure Local Jobs Code, because it was not allowing the government to provide value for money for taxpayers. The Canberra Liberals are extremely mindful of workers’ safety in construction, and that will always be front of mind. But we are also mindful of our obligation to provide the best outcome for all ratepayers. If we are doing things in such a way that ensures a less-efficient outcome, we should not do those things. There will be more to come.

Labor has won the last seven ACT elections, and that is a fact that should be acknowledged by us honestly. The people of Canberra made their choices, and they did not choose us. In a democracy, those choices must be respected. It is not for us to say that the people were wrong. It is for us to ask what we failed to do, what we must learn, and what we must now do differently. For too long, the Canberra Liberals have not convinced enough Canberrans that we were ready to govern. We did not always give people a clear enough reason to change, and that must change. Under my leadership, it will change.

But this government has changed, too. It is no longer the government it was 10, 15 or 20 years ago. It is tired, debt-riddled, out of touch and too comfortable with failure and mediocrity. The question is not whether Canberrans were wrong in the past. The question is whether the government is still right for Canberra’s future and, on the evidence before us, the answer is no.

I have been listening to the people of Canberra for more than 25 years. I listened to them as a broadcaster, I listened to them as a local resident and, for the last nine years, I have listened to them as a member of this Assembly. When I entered this place, I promised to do all I could for the people of Canberra, to stand up for them, to speak plainly, to work hard, and to never forget who sent me here. I take no day in this place for granted. Every day, I am reminded of the privilege of serving a city and a community that I believe in. My aspiration is simple: to restore Canberra to its rightful place as the pride of the nation—a city that is well managed, a city where families can afford to live, a city where local businesses are backed, not burdened, and a city where suburbs are cared for, services work and people feel safe.

The Canberra Liberals will return responsible financial management to this territory. We will get debt under control. We will rebuild core government services stretched to the limit. We will cut red tape for business. We will give our suburbs the attention they deserve. We will restore housing affordability and choice. We will take crime and community safety seriously. The choice is very clear: more of the same from a tired Labor government, or sensible Liberal change, renewed hope and a stronger Canberra.

The people of Canberra still have over two years to wait before they can vote for change, and for many that will feel like an eternity. We will stand up for families, small businesses, young Canberrans, workers, public servants and suburbs that have been ignored for far too long. That is our promise to the people of Canberra. They deserve no less.