The cost of living is ripping our social fabric. Who can mend this?

The stakes could hardly be higher for this ACT election, but you might not know it listening to many political parties and candidates.

Global and national forces are ratcheting up the financial pressure on households, with an unprecedented growth of the working poor in the territory.

A fundamental challenge this election is preventing the lower paid portion of the middle-class from falling permanently into hardship, and assisting those already experiencing it.

Most political discussion about the cost-of-living crisis treats it like an unfortunate but temporary phenomenon.

It suggests that if we can grit our teeth, the pain will pass soon enough.

It fails to understand that the pain is being borne almost entirely by those at the bottom end of the economic ladder.

It also fails to recognise the cost-of-living crisis for what it is – a wrecking ball aimed at the heart of our social fabric which will permanently reshape our community without decisive government action.

The best news in this election is that while many of the economic pressures experienced in the ACT are global, the ACT government has capacity to insulate Canberrans from them.

As the highest-earning, best-educated jurisdiction, the ACT is uniquely well-placed. The ACT government can lift people out of poverty and preserve our middle-class, but only if it pulls the right levers.

Canberra’s housing crisis sits at the heart of the cost-of-living crisis, growing wealth inequality and the erosion of the middle-class. A rapid increase in the amount of social housing and low-cost housing is essential.

Canberra inherited 12.2 per cent of all housing stock at the time of self-government in 1989, but that figure is now a mere 5.7 per cent.

To help end homelessness, 10 per cent of all housing stock should be social housing by 2036, with commensurate investment in each successive term of government. Creation of much more low-cost housing is also imperative.

Recognising that the structural effects of the cost-of-living crisis will be permanent without intervention, an incoming government should undertake a sweeping review of the tax and concessions system.

Reforms should ensure that people on the lowest incomes, including those on the Low Income Health Care Card, Health Care Card, and ACT Services Access Card, are eligible for all relevant concessions and rebates. A review should also ensure that the tax system is fair.

Those who are fortunate enough to be able to pay more should do so.

More immediately, the government should invest in a fair, fast and inclusive energy transition. This means helping low-income households transition away from gas to electricity, including by incentivising landlords where required.

The community sector is the final safety net for Canberrans experiencing the deepest poverty, and for a growing number of people who are employed but still need help to buy food.

Yet government funding for the sector has become increasingly inadequate.

For instance, there has been no systematic mechanism to address the ACT’s rapid population growth of 30 per cent over the last 15 years.

Canberrans deserve to be able to access the right community services at the right time.

Currently, many community organisations are forced to turn away those in need, or put them on waiting lists that are so long that crisis turns into catastrophe.

These policy levers must be pulled in a co-ordinated manner, with the intention of stopping and reversing the trend of more people experiencing poverty.

Politicians should frame their pitch to voters in light of this challenge, linking individual promises to their broader vision.

Yet many candidates are not articulating the challenge of a potentially shrinking middle-class and the deepening of poverty.

Each election is our community’s best chance to talk about its future, with all the hopes and fears that this entails.

With only about a month before postal voting starts, it’s imperative that candidates clearly articulate their plans to keep the middle-class intact and lift others out of poverty.

The only candidates worthy of leading the ACT are the ones who can, at a minimum, communicate the ACT government’s central challenge and their plan to address it.

Any candidate who cannot even get the diagnosis right cannot be expected to administer an appropriate prescription if elected.

Opinion piece originally published in The Canberra Times on August 31st, 2024.
Read the editorial here.
For more information or comment, please contact
Devin Bowles, CEO, ACTCOSS, on 0413 435 080 or 02 6202 7200