Canberra Liberals Leader Elizabeth Lee has highlighted the concerning number of Canberrans living in poverty and called on the Labor-Greens government to commission an independent inquiry into the prevalence of poverty in the ACT.

Ms Lee who will put forward a motion in the Legislative Assembly today, said the ACT Council of Social Services (ACTCOSS) estimates that a staggering 38,000 Canberrans are living in poverty including 9000 children.

“The recent cost of living increases has hit lower income Canberrans the hardest and for ACT to have 38,000 people living in poverty is simply unacceptable,” Ms Lee said.

“Early last year, I put forward a motion in the Legislative Assembly calling for a Poverty Taskforce to investigate the ongoing causes of poverty in the ACT.

“This motion was ultimately voted down by every member of Labor and the Greens who said it was not warranted because they already understood the root causes of poverty in the ACT and were implementing the necessary measures to address the problem.

“Since that time, more than two thirds of community sector staff in the ACT have reported that levels of poverty and disadvantage amongst vulnerable groups have increased over the last year.”

In its submission to the ACT Budget 2022-23 ACTCOSS also reported.

• the ACT has the highest rate of rental stress among lower income households in private rentals
• over 25,000 Canberrans living in low-income households
• households in the lowest income quintile spend over 55 percent of their income on housing, food and transport.

“Despite the lip service offered to Canberrans, clearly the Labor-Greens government is either unable or unwilling to address the issue of poverty in the ACT,” Ms Lee said.

“This government continues to have the hubris to act as if they have not been responsible for years of neglect in the Housing and Community Services sectors.”

The independent inquiry into the prevalence of poverty in Canberra would look at a number of factors including the rates and drivers of poverty; the relationships between economic conditions and poverty and the impact of poverty on individuals in relation to employment, housing, health and education.

The inquiry would also examine the effects of poverty in different demographics and communities; the relationship between income support payments and poverty and mechanisms to address and reduce poverty.