Last night’s federal budget saw Canberrans continuing to miss out when it comes to receiving a fair share of federal funding, according to community-endorsed ACT Independent Senate candidate, David Pocock.

David said it was disappointing to see overall funding for the Territory would decline by 3% next year.

“Anyone hoping for a budget night surprise in our city’s favour would have been sorely disappointed,” David said.

“How money gets allocated in the budget should be about what’s good for the country. About how we are going to build our future.

“Looking at what was handed down last night, it is hard not to be cynical and see this as an election-eve attempt to buy votes with one-off payments and short-term program extensions.

“Political expediency has prevailed with the marginal seats once again the big winners while genuine need in safe seats is overlooked.

“The ACT is stuck in last place for infrastructure investment with just 0.3% of the total national spend despite having been neglected for decades.

“What this budget plainly shows once again is that the ACT is not being well-served by its current representative in government. 

"It appears that Senator Seselja could not even get funding for comparatively minor investments like an AIS Arena upgrade to make it safe for events, or his proposed upgrade to Viking Park.

“But even more concerning, he hasn’t stepped in to stop cuts to critical services or secure help where it’s really needed.”

David highlighted a more than one-third cut to ACT Public order and safety spending as a particular concern locally together with a broader national reduction in spending on renewable and clean energy representing a 35% annual cut over four years.

“Safety is something that comes up talking to the community as a major worry, as is concern around the lack of action on climate,” David said.

“I find it truly astounding that faced with the need to improve our disaster resilience while at the same cutting people’s energy costs the government is instead stripping funding from the clean and renewable energy agencies.

“The government is passing up the opportunity to save households as much as $5,000 a year on their energy costs and doing nothing to make things like electric vehicles more affordable.”

“The one-off payments, while appreciated by households in need, won’t do anything to address the lack of real wages growth that make cost-of-living increases so hard to cope with.

“Housing affordability features in almost every conversation I have with people all around the ACT but once again there’s been no big ideas or bold ambition. Helping overcome the deposit hurdle is only one small part of a much bigger picture that does nothing to address housing stress or put downwards pressure on prices.

“I note this budget offers nothing significant for young people who will shoulder the burden of debt in years to come.

“Straightforward requests for our most vulnerable like access to free RATs and N95 masks for people on the NDIS have been dismissed.

“Similarly calls to better fund our hospitals and improve conditions for essential workforces, like those caring for older Australians, appear to have gone unheeded. This is a real concern across the community.

“It is also really disappointing to see big fat zeros next to the staffing provisions for a Commonwealth Integrity Commission. I really don’t think the message from the community for more integrity and better accountability could be any clearer.”

While welcoming the overall small increase in public service numbers, David flagged concerns around staffing cuts to important service delivery agencies like Services Australia and plans to pursue decentralisation.

“If Canberrans put their trust in me to represent them as a Senator in the next term of parliament, I will fight against decentralisation of the public service every step of the way,” David said.

“Canberra is the national capital and the public service should be here in the ACT.” 

Although disappointed at the government’s continued refusal to re-implement gender responsive budgeting, David applauded the further $1.3 billion investment including for frontline services towards ending violence against women and children alongside the reforms to paid parental leave.

David said additional, longer-term support for apprentices was also good news as workforce shortages were an increasing challenge especially for small businesses. 

“Valuing and investing more in trades is a crucial step if we are to rise to the challenge of rewiring our homes and businesses to take advantage of the huge savings that will come with this. We need to pair this investment in trades with smart climate policies that will save households money."

David called on political leaders to show more vision and longer term thinking to turn the challenges we face into opportunities.

“We need more vision and longer term thinking to turn the challenges we face into opportunities.

“We have missed out in ways both big and small, everything from major nation-building projects to the ACT being the only jurisdiction to be excluded from funding for the National Plant Health Surveillance program.

“The ACT needs a stronger voice in parliament standing up for our community and getting real results as Independents right around the country have proven they can do.”