Elizabeth Lee says the Labor-Greens Government has the wrong priorities. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
In the first sitting week of 2023, we got the usual statement from the Chief Minister on his priorities for the year.
From a tired old government that has been at the helm for over 20 years, it hardly made for exciting reading. The most remarkable thing about this statement wasn’t what was in it but what was missing from it.
A few weeks ago, the Productivity Commission released its annual Report on Government Services. The ROGS is a set of comprehensive data compiled from all states and territories used to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of public expenditure across Australia. Basically, it’s a report card on how efficiently all governments across Australia are spending taxpayers’ money.
The data for the ACT is grim.
Yet again, we have the longest emergency department wait times of any state or territory in Australia. We have held last place in this public hospital indicator since the 2017-18 financial year.
More than 80 per cent of outpatients wait longer than clinically recommended for surgery, and those in the urgent category, who should be seen in 14 days, wait an average of 52 days.
Whichever way you dissect and interpret the data, no one can deny that our hospitals are struggling and struggling badly.
Last year, the Labor-Greens government announced it would finally establish a permanent surgical service for gynaecological cancer in Canberra, only to renege on its promise a few short months later and we are still in the dark about when this will happen.
We have heard about the toxic culture in our hospitals that’s driving our nurses and doctors away from the capital and repeated promises from the Health Minister that they’re fixing things.
Where was the ‘priority’ of fixing our health system in the Chief Minister’s priorities for 2023?
The picture doesn’t get much rosier when we look at our education system. The ACT Government reduced real funding for education over the past decade.
We have hazardous and toxic materials in our classrooms because basic maintenance has been neglected in our schools for years, and Labor and Greens’ broken promise to recruit 400 teachers has led to a serious teacher shortage, resulting in our teachers at crisis point, subjected to bullying and violence.
Only last year, there were WorkSafe ACT closures in some schools because they were deemed unsafe workplaces.
This is an unacceptable reality in our schools in the nation’s capital today.
Where was the ‘priority’ of fixing our education system in the Chief Minister’s priorities for 2023?
The community’s concern about safety is growing. This is the result of the very deliberate decisions made by Labor and the Greens to starve our frontline police officers of the adequate resources they need to keep our community safe.
Our men and women in blue who put their lives on the line each and every day are being let down by the ACT having the smallest police force and lowest funding for police per capita in Australia.
Where was the ‘priority’ of fixing our police force in the Chief Minister’s priorities for 2023?
The ACT has been facing a housing affordability crisis for some time now with Canberra boasting the highest median rents in the country and a median house valued at almost $1 million. We now have fewer public housing dwellings than we had a decade ago despite a whopping 24 per cent increase in population, with the waitlist ballooning to over 3000 Canberrans needing a roof over their head and the highest rate of long-term homelessness in the country.
We are unique in the ACT in that the government controls the release of all land for residential development, but Labor and the Greens are wedded to an unsustainable infill policy that is failing the needs of Canberrans when it comes to housing. As a direct result of this deliberate policy, land is being drip-fed to the community where we see tens of thousands of hopeful Canberrans throwing their hats into a lottery for sometimes a meagre 70 blocks up for grabs. No wonder the average block costs almost $800,000 even before a single brick is laid.
Where was the ‘priority’ of fixing our housing crisis in the Chief Minister’s priorities for 2023?
For a long time, many Canberrans took great pride in our beautiful city. We would quietly boast over the greenest grass, the cleanest streets and footpaths, and the great public amenities. Over the past decade, there is absolutely no doubt that it is no longer the beautiful, clean, green city that we knew and loved. Daily, I am contacted by constituents who despair at the neglect that has befallen our city with grass not mown, footpaths not fixed and potholes not patched. Canberrans pay eyewatering rates and see nothing in return.
Where was the ‘priority’ of fixing our basic local amenities in the Chief Minister’s priorities for 2023?
Andrew Barr has laid out his priorities for 2023 and no one can be fooled by what they are. But the real question Canberrans are asking is whether they are the priorities of our community.
With fixing our broken hospitals, schools, community safety, housing and basic municipal services all starkly missing from the Chief Minister’s priorities for this year, Canberrans can have no doubt that we will not be seeing any real leadership or commitment to address them.
The future of Canberra that I see is one where we support our teachers, healthcare professionals, police and emergency services on the frontline; where Canberrans can access world-class healthcare when they need it; where our children have access to the best evidence-based education in the world; where Canberrans have genuine choice when it comes to housing; where we all play a part in looking after our environment and community spaces; where a local government gets the basics of looking after our green spaces, roads and footpaths; where public transport actually serves public transport needs; where we look after our most vulnerable Canberrans.
By not spending over $3 billion on the tram from Civic to Woden, the Canberra Liberals will be able to properly invest in these critical government services that have been neglected because we know how important they are for Canberrans. These may all be forgotten by Andrew Barr, but these are my priorities and I will continue to be a strong voice for the Canberrans that have been long forgotten and left behind by this Labor-Greens government.
Elizabeth Lee is the leader of the Canberra Liberals.
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