E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC CANBERRA LIVE WITH LEON DELANEY
WEDNESDAY, 26 OCTOBER 2022 

SUBJECTS: Budget; Infrastructure; Light Rail; AIS Arena; Housing; Community Batteries; Urgent Care Clinic; Childcare; Energy Prices; The Canberra Forum.

LEON DELANEY, HOST: Well, last night the new Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivered his first budget. Some are describing it as a mini-budget because it's in October, not in May. And we'll do it all over again in around about six months time. But what does the budget mean for the ACT? Federal Member for Canberra Alicia Payne is on the line right now. Thanks for joining us today. We've got some infrastructure spending in this budget, haven't we?

ALICIA PAYNE MP, MEMBER FOR CANBERRA: Thanks, Leon. Yes, this is really a budget that certainly delivers for Canberra. And after nearly a decade of neglect, that's really, really important to see a budget that's restoring that infrastructure funding for the ACT and also other investments, which we'll talk more about.

DELANEY: All right. Well, there's obviously a few straightforward items that have already been discussed, like the funding for stage 2A of light rail, the $15 million for the AIS Arena. But a lot of people are going to say it doesn't go far enough. We're still short of funding for things like a new large scale sports stadium, for example. What of the future of light rail beyond stage 2A. It's a fairly modest budget in that respect, isn't it?

PAYNE: Now all these items have obviously been worked out in consultation with the ACT government around what was most needed for those projects. In terms of the light rail, that's really important for the next step, and where we're at now. There's a range of other items in there, which I haven't mentioned yet, including there's funding, working with the ACT Government on the Garden City Cycleway, which is down the side of Northbourne Avenue which will really increase access to a good active transport route for Canberrans there, which we've seen on the other side of Northbourne be really effective. We've also got just over $3 million that will be invested in ACT waterways, improving the health of our urban waterways. We've got funding for the Gorman House Arts Centre. We've also got a community battery, we've got three community batteries for the ACT, including one in Dickson in the electorate I represent. There's a real range of things in the budget for the ACT. Also a Medicare urgent care clinic. So many of these things were things that we announced before the election, and it's delivering on those commitments.

DELANEY: Okay, one of the centerpieces of the budget, of course, is this housing accord between the Commonwealth Government and the states and the territories and other interested entities as well, are aiming to deliver 1 million new affordable houses over the next five years. What does that mean for Canberra?

PAYNE: So housing was obviously a key part of our election platform. And we've actually built on that further and with new announcements in last night's budget. So before the election, we said that we would deliver 30,000 new social and affordable housing dwellings nationwide. In the budget last night, we've added 10,000 to that immediately. And then the accord that you mentioned, will actually build a million homes over a decade, which is working with states and territories, with the construction industry, and with the whole housing sector, to ensure that we really address the housing crisis that Australia is facing. And of course, it's very acute in Canberra. It's something that people talk to me about, one of the issues that gets raised with me more than any other is around housing, in the ACT. But it's like that around the country. So this is something, this is our government recognising that and really working on that. And the other commitments, well we have many commitments in the housing space. But another really important one is a commitment to a national strategy on housing and homelessness. And this is really important because that's working with the states and territories to really address these growing problems in our country.

DELANEY: This accord though, does depend upon the states and territories doing their part. Are you confident that the ACT Government might be poked and prodded into actually releasing more land?

PAYNE: Well, we are a new federal government that really is open for conversation. And you can really tell that there is a different vibe in Parliament House and a different vibe in the relationships with stakeholders and with the states and territories. Whether they be frankly Labor governments of states and territories, or Liberal. That we are open and discussing and working constructively and that that had been somewhat missing under the previous government. Certainly as well though when you've got the ACT Government, who are obviously also already doing a lot of good work in the housing space. In the ACT budget there was announced more public housing dwellings and support for that. And so this is something that our two governments will work really well together on.

DELANEY: Okay, well it's interesting you say that about state and territory governments regardless of political flavor, because Matt Kean, the New South Wales Treasurer, has come out today suggesting that New South Wales has been robbed in this budget?

PAYNE: Well, I suppose, they've got their election coming up, too. And they might say things like that. But I know that we are definitely a government that are doing things a bit differently and talking to people and listening to the issues that are important to all Australians.

DELANEY: Okay. The other big centerpiece for this budget was, again previously promised, but that's the funding for improved childcare, and also paid parental leave arrangements. It's being pitched as part of a gender equity and also an economic policy to deliver opportunities for families to participate in the workforce, where those opportunities might previously have been more difficult. How important is that for Canberra?

PAYNE: Oh, it's so important for Canberra. And I'm so proud of these announcements. The childcare policy is about making childcare affordable for over 90% of families that use it. And in the ACT, that's 23,200 families who will have more affordable childcare. And this is so important, because for a range of reasons. We know that the first five years of life set children up for their future, and so enabling more people to be able to access that early childhood education and care is really key in that regard. But also, in taking a handbrake off participation, particularly women's participation that we've seen increasing hours or going back to work for many people, it has not been worth it. And the fact is, that tends to fall on the mother in most households, as they tend to be the lower earner. So this is a really important economic measure in that regard. Paid Parental Leave, we are extending that out to 26 weeks, or six months of paid leave. And this is again, Labor introduced our first paid parental leave scheme, meaning that some people for the first time had access to any paid leave at all when they had a baby. And this extends that scheme to 26 weeks, which is a really wonderful expansion of that program, and will make such a difference to so many families with a new baby. And in particular, sharing that time off with a new baby, between mother and father and there'll be further work done around how much of that scheme might actually be sort of a use it or lose it for fathers. At the moment, this can be shared between either parent, which is fantastic. And some of it may mean that it's specifically for the non birth parent to encourage them to have that time as well.

DELANEY: Okay, now back to the childcare arrangements. Some critics have suggested that the increasing the subsidy basically will just be inflationary, and the costs will just go up to absorb the subsidy, that there might be some risk of price gouging there, what protection is there against that?

PAYNE: Well, part of the policy is tasking the ACCC with looking into any anything like that that happened. This is a policy that's got the support of the sector. And this is about making it more affordable for parents. So no, there are measures in place to ensure that that doesn't happen. And that's an important part of the policy.

DELANEY: Alright now, Labor got elected promising to reduce electricity prices. And this budget predicts that electricity prices nationwide will increase by 50% over the next two years. That's a broken promise, isn't it?

PAYNE: Well, what's driving that at the moment is actually the war in Ukraine, which no one has had control over in that regard. And also, a decade of confusion around energy policy under the previous government, which we can't undo. But what we are actually doing, like our promise to reduce power prices stands because we are actually doing what's needed, which is investing in renewable energy, which is ultimately going to bring the costs of power down for Australians. We have a plan to get to our commitment of 82% renewables by 2030. So that's very ambitious. And we've seen a lot of the actual investment in the grid and into projects like connecting Tasmania with the mainland. These are huge, huge, renewable energy projects, which will have that outcome of reducing power prices, as well as being critically important for our environment.

DELANEY: So not a broken promise?

PAYNE: No.

DELANEY: Okay. Finally, you've sent out a questionaire to constituents, what are you expecting?

PAYNE: Yes. So I've announced that I'll be doing something called the Canberra Forum, which is a deliberative panel. It's bringing together a group of Canberrans for me to listen to their views about the issues most important to Canberrans. This is an Australian first, and it's run by an independent expert group called DemocracyCo. And they've generously donated their expertise to me to do this, so that they want to create a handbook that other members of parliament might use. So this is an ongoing project that will over six months enable a group of around 40 Canberrans, to talk with experts and talk with me and I've committed to take their views into the parliament. I'm paraphrasing here, Leon sorry. But all the details on my website. But this week, the first step of that has taken place with a survey going out to every household in Canberra. So I just encourage your listeners to have a look in their mailbox, there's a survey there, and you can use a QR code to fill it in online or mail it back. But also, the other thing is that 8000 households who have been randomly selected will receive an invitation to be part of the panel. And then from those that respond positively, we will select those 40 people. Trying to get the best representation of our community. Because the other aim of this is for me to hear the voices that I don't always hear. So we want to get a mix of age groups, of gender, of political persuasions on this panel. So, I really hope Canberrans will see this is a really good opportunity to be really involved in our democratic process and decision making and to to have a look in their mailbox and take up those opportunities.

DELANEY: Thanks very much for your time today.

PAYNE: Thanks for having me Leon.

DELANEY: It's a pleasure. Thank you, Alicia Payne, the MP for Canberra.