25 September 2024

Canberra Decides: candidates face off on the cost-of-living crisis

| Oliver Jacques
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four candidates merged shot

The Liberals’ Ed Cocks, Independent for Canberra’s Dr Vanessa Picker, Labor’s Yvette Berry and the Greens’ Rebecca Vassarotti will lock horns in the final election debate. Image: Region.

The final of three Canberra Decides election debates will focus on the issue on everyone’s lips – cost of living.

The event will again take place at the Lonsdale St Studio and be broadcast live on Riotact’s Facebook page from 6 pm on Wednesday, 25 September.

ACT Labor says it has a track record of helping those who need it most. The Liberals say Labor has made things worse by increasing rates and registration costs. The Greens claim more free public services will take the pressure off individuals, while the Independents for Canberra are pushing for long-term structural reform.

Our interactive forum gives you the chance to grill representatives of the four major political forces on their cost-of-living solutions by asking them questions, assessing their debate performance or sharing your voting intentions. This can be done by downloading the Slido app or going to slido.com. A Slido code will be provided at the start of the forum coverage.

Independents for Canberra candidate in Brindabella Dr Vanessa Picker, ACT Greens Deputy Leader and Kurrajong candidate Rebecca Vassarotti, Liberals Murrumbidgee MLA Ed Cocks and Deputy Chief Minister and Ginninderra MLA Yvette Berry will take part in the forum to be moderated by former Region Group Editor and now Hands Across Canberra CEO Genevieve Jacobs.

An expert panel has also been assembled to question the debate participants – Canberra Business Chamber Board Chair Archie Tsirimokos, University of Canberra director of the Centre for a Better Canberra Chris Wallace and ACT Council of Social Services (ACTCOSS) CEO Dr Devin Bowles.

ACTCOSS put cost of living in the spotlight with a report released last month that showed the capital has experienced above-inflation increases in prices for basics like housing (22.8 per cent), transport (22.3 per cent) and food (20.0 per cent) over the past five years.

“There are thousands of Canberrans who saved for a rainy day, only to have it rain for years,” Dr Bowles said.

READ ALSO Welfare peak body renews calls to raise dole as report reveals soaring cost of essentials

Ms Berry says ACT Labor has always supported those in our community who need it most and will continue to do so.

“Free Chromebooks, equity fund, free preschool, $500 to support tradies, energy bill support and the list goes on,” she said.

“A re-elected Labor Government will continue delivering progressive and practical policy that helps Canberrans live happy and healthy lives.”

Shane Rattenbury, Elizabeth Lee, Thomas Emerson and Andrew Barr

The second Canberra Decides debate featured party leaders Shane Rattenbury, Elizabeth Lee, Thomas Emerson and Andrew Barr. Photo: Michelle Kroll.

Ms Vassarotti says a Greens-led government will address the issue with far more radical reforms.

“It’s become clear this cost-of-living crisis is driving a deepening inequality that will not be fixed by tinkering at the edges. Instead, to make it more affordable for people to live – we need to invest in essential services,” she said.

“By properly investing in the foundational building blocks that lead to a good life, like public housing, free healthcare and public education, we can tackle this crisis.

“I’m looking forward to the contest of ideas in this debate and looking forward to communicating with Canberrans about how our grassroots team can deliver real policies to take Canberra further and faster towards a fairer future.”

The Canberra Liberals, though, claim the Labor-Greens government has made the cost-of-living crisis worse by increasing rates, vehicle registration and licence costs.

READ ALSO Housing, infrastructure and how to pay for it all key issues in leaders’ debate

Dr Vanessa Picker says the independents will tackle the crisis differently.

“The cost-of-living crisis is often framed as temporary, but it’s a deeper, systemic issue that requires long-term solutions, not short-term band-aids,” she said.

“Our Future Generations Act, building on the approach taken in Wales, is designed to ensure all policy decisions are made through a long-term lens, including addressing root causes of severe cost-of-living pressures now and into the future.

“For far too long, we’ve seen the recycling of inefficient and ineffective ideas, coupled with a lack of new ones. As independents, we can call out bad policy and push for more wide-ranging reforms that go to the heart of the challenges we face.”

You can register your intention to watch the election forum on Facebook. The first two debates are available to watch on Region’s YouTube channel, where today’s final forum will be posted once completed.

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Poverty Summit? So spend 200-300k on the summit. Hiring the Convention Centre, catering, accommodation, flights (flying in guest speakers) etc. Meanwhile diverting those funds from actually tackling the issue. You people are diabolically evil – stop it, just stop!

Typical that Labor and greens candidates would flat out lie by pretending they are giving away “free” stuff. It’s not free. Idiots believing it’s free is why their cost of living is increasing. You pay for this “free” stuff through increased taxes, rates, and ACT government fees.

What the article highlights for me Ken M are social policies that I would expect to see implemented by any progressive government in supporting their communities and citizens who most need it. These are the type of inclusive social policies that I love to see but are always vehemently opposed by conservative governments. They include health care, education, sexual equality, worker’s rights, public transport etc. etc.

If the Canberra Liberals get over their dysfunction and internal bickering I would like the party to reveal how they propose to fund their over $2 billion election commitments. This includes the party’s plans for a town centre in Kowen Forest which is 30km outside Canberra and within NSW, the convention centre and a new stadium on Commonwealth land. The party continues its efforts in undermining our city’s health care centres which they plan to close, and the nurses who run them but are silent on their health policies and refuse to support the building of a new Northside hospital in Bruce!

Correct Ken, this GreenLabor government does/gives NOTHING for Free.

Jack D,
Once again ignoring that the ALPs proposed infrastructure and overall promised expenditure is billions of dollars higher than the Liberals.

You’ve got to laugh when Jack D includes a Greenfield development area which will directly result in tens of billions of dollars in direct revenue from land sales.

How will they possibly afford it? LOL

No wonder Andrew Barr’s budget is in such perilous straits, with their rampant increases in spending and election promises

How exactly are the ALP going to pay for their ever increasing spend?

Incidental Tourist5:39 pm 25 Sep 24

Jack D. – the article highlights the issue of the cost of living and not the old tiered narrative about who is more “progressive”. But I’ll give it a progressive try for you. People have just received “progressive” double digits increase of local rates. These hard working mum and dads, self funded retirees, young and old expect some relief from all sort of “progressive” tax increases, not just relief only for eligible “progressive” group.

Rephrasing the Animal Farm we all know that all animals are equal but some are more eligible (equal) than others. Building a farm based on cumbersome eligibility hierarchy is progressively costly, progressively ineffective and progressively unfair.

Hard working people do not need to learn from their galloping rates, land tax, car registration, water bills, parking fees etc. etc. that they are not equal enough. They don’t want to pay more and more for someone else progress who always remain more eligible (equal) than they are.

The criticism about future vision for a new Kowen district sounds more like a voice of the opposition. But hey, who said that opposition shouldn’t be “progressive”? And the first step of such “progressive” opposition is admission of their cost of living errors, such as galloping “progressive” local taxes, “progressive” debt and “progressively” failing behind health and education standards.

They will fund it by cancelling 6 billion dollars worth of Labors virtue signalling nonsense, “Jack D”. There will be heaps of money left over.

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