Greens leader and ACT government minister Shane Rattenbury says the government’s budget needs to go further, faster to address the urgent challenges facing the Canberra community.  

“The ACT is different to the rest of the country. We’re progressive, we look after each other and we take the climate crisis seriously. But we still have a cost of living crisis and not enough housing, so there are things the Greens would do differently,” said ACT Greens Leader, Shane Rattenbury.

“Despite the Greens’ best efforts, there’s a lot missing from this Budget that you’ll see us put forward as election commitments in the coming months, because they’re really important investments in this community.

“Labor has proudly proclaimed this is a ‘big road budget’, but the Greens would be investing more in public and active transport, to cut emissions and make it easier to get around Canberra without being trapped into the expense of having a car.

“We’d be providing more certainty to community groups that provide really important services to Canberrans, and investing more in the health of our precious natural environment.

“We want planning rules and development decisions to deliver maximum benefit to the community, not to private developers, and I’ll have more to say on this topic in the coming days.

“Once again the Greens will seek to amend the ACT Budget to phase out the $41 million subsidy to the horse racing industry.

“We simply do not believe that a taxpayer subsidy to the horse racing industry is in the public interest – especially in the face of a cost of living crisis and a housing crisis.”