In his third and final column reviewing the mid-term achievements of the Legislative Assembly, MICHAEL MOORE looks at how the Labor Party sees its achievements.  

LABOR in the ACT Assembly are proud of what they have achieved over the first half of this term of the Assembly. However, they are also keen to focus on what’s ahead. 

The challenge for Labor is to persuade the community, despite more than 20 years in government, they are energetic and innovative and deserve another term.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr recently told the Assembly: “Two years ago Canberrans voted decisively for an experienced and progressive government”. He was framing his speech around “delivering the infrastructure and services to ensure our city continues to be one of the most liveable in the world”.

The first two years of this Barr Labor and Greens government was tough. The global pandemic put huge health and financial strains on all governments in Australia and internationally.

Labor pursued a $500 million program in direct grants in order to stimulate the economy. They continued maintaining economic growth that has been the hallmark for the ACT every year since self-government in 1989.

While maintaining Canberra as one of the most liveable cities in the world, the Barr government also addresses the issue of climate change. Their aim is net zero by 2045. Addressing these dual goals, the government has expanded financial support for Canberrans to make their homes and community facilities more sustainable through the Sustainable Household Scheme. This award-winning scheme has delivered more than $98 million in loans and thousands of sustainable upgrades.

The ACT is already a world leader in addressing climate change through renewable energy. Around five per cent of eligible households have accessed the Sustainable Household Scheme including rooftop solar, electric heating and cooling, and electric-vehicle chargers. Working with the Greens, Labor plans to continue building on this achievement.

In the pipeline is the Big Canberra Battery. This is designed as part of the most liveable city, to support a 100 per cent renewable electricity grid and to ensure the renewable energy we generate can be stored locally. Add to this the development of more options for transport such as the move to have all new cars sold after 2030 to be electric vehicles and the extension of light rail to Woden.

Our health system was under extraordinary stress throughout the first half of this electoral term. Unfortunately, over the last decade, and more recently, there have been horror stories of avoidable deaths in the hospital while waiting times in emergency and for elective surgery have blown out considerably. There is no one silver bullet and the problems with our public hospital systems are exacerbated by cuts to the health budget. 

However, the government will continue the Canberra Hospital expansion through 2024 and have committed to hiring 400 new nurses, doctors, and healthcare professionals. Government medical centres have expanded. The latest commitment being the Molonglo Valley Medical Centre. The intention is to take the strain off hospitals and deliver medical services more appropriately and closer to where they are needed.

Through the covid era, the ACT achieved the highest vaccination rates in Australia and amongst the highest in the world.

While every home owner understands the challenge of ever increasing land rates, the government is very proud of their progress in eliminating stamp duty. 

Hopefully, this “more progressive tax system” will assist first-home buyers and mitigate some of the impact of the cost of housing. Although the government has been challenged on moving funds from the sale of public housing into support for light rail, they also have introduced new public and social housing to support Canberra’s most vulnerable. 

This includes opening Common Ground Dickson that delivers 40 new homes for individuals and families at risk of homelessness.

On social justice issues the ACT had the highest vote on marriage equality, and Canberra is formally an official “welcoming city” and “refugee welcome zone”. Over the next two years Canberra “will be the first jurisdiction to raise the criminal age of responsibility and decriminalise small-scale possession of drugs”.

According to Barr: “We’re a city that isn’t afraid to lead. We’re a city-state that doesn’t shy away from complex challenges. 

“As in any democracy, some in the community will not agree with every policy and every decision. That is understood. But, to be clear, we are doing what we said we’d do. There are no surprises”.

Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with “CityNews” since 2006. His columns are available at citynews.com.au