Community Alliance Party

This area covers the following topics:

• Housing
• Transport
• Energy
• Business

Key Policy Statements for Housing

The Community Alliance Party aims to make housing in the ACT more affordable, more accessible and of better quality. The Alliance supports private home ownership, a strong public housing system and adequate crisis housing to reverse the rising number of homeless.

The Alliance will work with communities to address the ACT’s current housing crisis, in which houses are generally less affordable and harder to access than in other cities. A key Alliance strategy will be the steady release of land and housing balanced with social and design measures to encourage improved occupancy rates and sustainability. The Alliance will support:

• early intervention to reduce the number of homeless people
• sufficient public housing and crisis housing spread to meet demand in each ACT community
• rents for public housing reflecting the tenants’ ability to pay and encouraging the transition to private housing by tenants with the means to pay
• new developments containing a mixture of house sizes and styles and stringent design standards for resource efficiency, adaptability and accessibility
• new properties (including apartments) being individually metered for water
• tenants becoming financially responsible for their own water consumption (with adjustments to rent increases to compensate)
• legal measures to prevent landlords from unfairly breaking lease agreements and monitoring of rental blacklists to prevent discrimination
• incentives for private home-owners to install insulation, double glazing, solar energy and other environmentally friendly technologies.

Key Policy Statements for Transport

The Community Alliance Party supports the creation of an integrated, flexible, and sustainable transport system for the ACT.

The Alliance will work with communities to develop innovative solution to transport problems created by poor ACT planning and financial management, centralisation, and over-reliance on private motor vehicles. The Alliance will work with the community to develop and promote:

• community- and environment-friendly transport options
• an adequately resourced and effective public bus network
• safe and sustainable infrastructure for all modes of transport
• decentralised work options and more flexible work hours
• optimised taxi numbers and licensing system
• a feasibility study for a light rail network powered by renewable energy
• cooperative relationships with the Commonwealth and NSW Governments to help fund key transport projects
• improved driver education and training
• free parking at hospitals, parking concessions for carers, and an investigation into parking in Civic
• the removal of speed cameras that do not contribute to road safety.

Key Policy Statements for Energy

The Community Alliance Party is committed to working with energy providers, communities, businesses, and governments towards sustainable energy use in the ACT.

The incumbent ACT Government currently has no comprehensive strategy for addressing energy use, costs or security of supply across the ACT. The Alliance will:

• genuinely consult with communities and other stakeholders to develop an energy policy for the ACT that is based in the context of a long-term strategic plan
• promote an integrated transport network in the ACT that reduces total transport energy use and the reliance on fossil fuels
• ensure that vehicles used by the ACT government are fuel-efficient
• support measures to keep the price of energy affordable for households, particularly low-income households
• lead the way in the adoption of 'cleaner' energy sources such as solar and wind power
• support a solar feed-in tariff for privately (and commercially if feasible) generated electricity
• protect the ACT from the hazards of nuclear power
• ensure that public housing and government facilities are constructed to minimise energy use; and that existing public housing stock are progressively retro-fitted
• support mandatory reporting of emissions of greenhouse gases and other energy pollutants and an appropriate role for the ACT in a national carbon-trading scheme
• instigate a review of electricity and water supply in the ACT
• support a free energy advisory service for users and the construction industry.

Key Policy Statements for Business

The Community Alliance Party seeks to foster a healthy business sector to serve as a vital foundation of a prosperous ACT. It will encourage the growth of businesses that are community friendly, environmentally sustainable, and socially responsible.

The Alliance aims to reverse the restrictive or unfavourable business climate that has persisted in the ACT through bureaucratic red-tape and selective or anti-competitive practices. The Alliance seeks to encourage and nurture small and local businesses as key employers and producers, while recognising the value of big business in broadening the ACT’s economic base and contributing to large-scale infrastructure projects and high tech research and development. The Alliance will work with businesses, communities, and government agencies to:

• meet business sector needs for a simple, consistent, and stable regulatory environment
• treat all companies in a fair and equitable manner
• seek, listen to and where possible act upon the business community’s concerns
• match the payroll tax rate in NSW
• support balanced growth, decentralisation, and diversification of the ACT economy
• nurture an excellent living and business environment in the ACT
• review retail tenancy laws for small businesses to prevent exploitation by large shopping centres
• ensure ACT businesses are supported in maintaining employment and training opportunities for people at various stages of their careers
• foster businesses that will encourage long-term employment stability in the ACT.