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.
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