The ACT election is approaching. Chief Minister Andrew Barr is hoping he and his Labor Party will be voted in for another term on October 19. His main challenger is the Liberals' Elizabeth Lee. The host of the ABC'S 'Canberra Breakfast' radio show, Adam Shirley, talks through the main issues and what voters are thinking.
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00:00In the ACT for the last 23 years, there has been a Labor government in power for that
00:07amount of time.
00:08For all but one term of government for four years, that's been in a minority arrangement
00:12with the Greens, either as a crucial crossbencher, or in this last four years, as senior members,
00:19as ministers in government, supporting the Labor Party in being government in the ACT.
00:25And that brings me to Andrew Barr, the current Chief Minister, the longest serving Chief
00:29Minister in history.
00:30He notched up that accolade, if you will, earlier this year, and if Labor take power
00:36again in the October election, he'll bring up 10 years as Chief Minister in December.
00:42He's also the Treasurer at the same time, which is a bit unusual, again, when you look
00:46at the rest of the nation, and that hasn't come without criticism in more recent years.
00:51So Andrew Barr has been in power leading this government for a number of years, and so is
00:55a known quantity in that regard.
00:58On the other side of the fence, the Liberal leader, Elizabeth Lee, represents a more moderate
01:02MLA, member of the Legislative Assembly, compared to previous leaders of the Liberal Party in
01:08recent history.
01:10She is attempting to bring the party into a more centrist position that hopefully, from
01:14her perspective, will appeal to ACT voters.
01:18Time will tell, though, whether that's enough to climb the mountain the Liberals need to
01:22take government for the first time in 23 years.
01:25So what are your listeners most concerned about in this election, Adam?
01:28What are they reaching out to you to talk about?
01:31Well, some of this will resonate, I guess, to any viewer in any state or territory.
01:36Housing is such a big one in the ACT.
01:39It's a growing city here, increasingly a popular place for people to come and live.
01:44That brings a shortage of affordable housing, which might not be known outside of these
01:48borders but it can be a real crunch point for people, even on a median wage.
01:52It's very difficult to get a mortgage and service that mortgage to a reasonable rate.
01:57Also the way Canberra is growing is up for debate amongst listeners to our station but
02:02across Canberra.
02:03Whether that's more of a greenfield development situation, where Canberra has an ability to
02:07spread but would need to move into reserves to do so, and pine plantations, as the Liberal
02:13Party wants to do, or whether that's more up with townhouses and apartments and filling
02:18in some of the areas that exist in the ACT for more density.
02:22So the nature of the housing that Canberra hopefully will get, as well as how much we
02:26need, is quite a strong point of contention, of debate.
02:29There's no doubt we're short on supply for now.
02:32There are housing targets, including for public housing, that have been missed by the current
02:36government.
02:37So that is certainly something that people constantly talk about.
02:41Transport in this region, as some people might know, it's a bit of a car-dominated city.
02:44We have quite a few distances between our town centres and our suburbs and that means
02:48improvements to public transport is something a lot of voters are looking for.
02:53There's a key point of difference here, Ros, in that the Labor-Greens coalition want to
02:57build a second stage of a light rail system we have here.
03:01There is one from Gungahlin and Canberra's north to the city centre.
03:05The second stage, which still doesn't have a costing on it, is proposed to be built through
03:09to the middle south area, around Woden, but there's still no blueprint for that.
03:13The Liberals in this term have pledged not to continue with that plan and put the money
03:19saved into more buses, including electric ones, and better other transport options for Canberrans.
03:25That is also quite a divisive issue and the vote on the day will tell just how much people
03:30see the bus and electric bus plan versus a light rail plan with buses to be the best alternative.
03:38Healthcare is that constant one that I'm sure a lot of your viewers can relate to as well.
03:42We have quite recently long emergency department waits here, sometimes the lowest of the country.
03:48We also have really long waits for elective surgery.
03:52This comes to a chronic shortage in the ACT of surgeons who live and work here, often
03:57locum surgeons or registrars from interstate have to be brought in, or a lot of Canberrans
04:02actually have to travel to Sydney for specialist care, and obviously that's something that
04:06is costly and difficult for a lot of locals.
04:09Additionally, we've got, I guess, pretty much the lowest bulk billing rates in the country,
04:14depending on what quarter of the year you're looking at, and that again is an issue of
04:18cost and access for a lot of Canberrans.
04:20There have been a few different promises made by a variety of the parties and the candidates
04:25on improving bulk billing rates and access to that kind of healthcare.
04:29There'd be a few of the key issues that voters are really focused on leading up to the 19th
04:33of October.