Canberra Liberals leader Elizabeth Lee has slammed the Chief Minister for getting the numbers wrong over her cost-of-living pledge. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr has been accused of a “blatant untruth” and being “downright wrong” when he fired off against the Canberra Liberals’ promised cost-of-living scheme.
He questioned how the Opposition had come up with its $65 million price tag and labelled the election promise a “cut and paste” from Alistair Coe’s 2020 campaign.
“If the Opposition Leader is just going to play from the old Liberal playbook, designed by people like Zed Seselja and Alistair Coe, then Canberrans should rightly be very nervous about what the Liberals plan to cut to pay for this cash splash,” Mr Barr said.
In a statement to the media, Mr Barr said the 2020 voucher scheme for children in years 7 to 9 was costed at $17 million per year, meaning offering that to every child regardless of a parent’s income would lead to an “astronomical” cost.
This was quickly corrected to $7 million, with his office stating there had been a typo.
Canberra Liberals leader Elizabeth Lee wasn’t buying it.
“The Chief Minister was pathetically embarrassing in his major blunder when he came to criticising our costings on this policy,” she said.
“He has demonstrated he cannot even read his own Treasury’s costings document … we’re talking about the Treasurer who has had responsibility for the ACT finances for over a decade.”
She also took to social media, labelling his claim a “downright lie”.
Mr Barr’s statement also declared the rebate to car registrations was a “reheated policy idea … straight from the Coe playbook” and said it had been costed by ACT Treasury at $87 million over four years.
In response, Ms Lee pointed out her promise was for a one-off payment.
“In his glee to try to slam, not the actual substance of the policy, but in a pathetic moment to play politics, he has demonstrated how out of touch he is,” she said.
“The fact that the only thing that the Chief Minister and the Treasurer has said about [our promised package] is to try and play ‘gotcha’ politics with costings, and getting it pathetically wrong just goes to show he has no ideas and no desire and no will to actually, not only have a debate on the policy but have any ideas brought forward to address the burden of cost-of-living pressures that are affecting thousands and thousands of Canberrans.
“If this is the only thing that Andrew Barr has to say about this package, then he’s already lost.”
Mr Barr doubled down on the numbers, stating the school vouchers would cost more than $20 million when considering $250 in rebates across 83,000 students.
“I think it depends a little on what the take up is – the Coe policy assumed only 60 per cent of students would actually take up the vouchers,” he said.
“If it is a universal payment to everyone, then it will cost $250 multiplied by the total number of students.
“The question is: is that money better spent on those who need it more?”
The ACT Government already has the Education Equity Fund, which provides between $400 and $750 to eligible students, with the assistance received depending on their age.
If the Canberra Liberals win October’s election, the scheme would be part of the party’s first budget, meaning the vouchers and rebates wouldn’t be available until at least 2025.
Mr Barr has stood firm on his stance that the pledge is made up of “largely recycled” promises and questioned how the timeline would assist Canberrans now.
“People need cost-of-living help this year, not next year,” he said.
“What we will be doing, in conjunction with the Federal Government and the tax cuts that are coming on the 1st of July, is particularly focusing on energy price relief for households, as well as looking at some targeted initiatives in education and health.
“[We] will deliver those in 2024, not in 12 to 18 months’ time.”
The ACT Government already provides subsidised public transport for students and seniors and free travel for children under the age of 5.
Mr Barr said there wasn’t free transport because advocates had pointed out that meant less money for public transport agencies to provide the services.
“That is a fair point and that’s why we’ve been particularly targeted with where we offer concessions and subsidies,” he said.
He also questioned why the Canberra Liberals wouldn’t be means-testing who could access the vouchers.
“I think it’s important that government target the available dollars to those who need it most,” Mr Barr said.
“An element of what the Liberals have announced is spraying money at millionaires, which isn’t fair, and I don’t think it is a principle that most Canberrans support.”
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