Resentment threatens to pop Canberra’s bubble amid cost squeeze

ACT residents living outside the Canberra bubble have been struggling to make ends meet in the city with the highest household income.

New mum Ash Scott with baby boy Angus. Picture: Jane Dempster

ACT residents living outside the Canberra bubble – without the benefit of a public servant’s or political staffer’s wage – are struggling to make ends meet in the city with the highest household income amid a cost-of-living crisis.

Though the nation’s capital has among the highest median weekly household income of $2373 a week there are still pockets of disadvantage in the Territory where suburbs rank nationally in the bottom half of the social-economic index.

Symonston, Oaks Estate, Booth, Charnwood and Richardson ranked as the ACT’s most disadvantaged suburbs. All sit in the fifth decile of national disadvantage or lower, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

This is in comparison to well-heeled Barton, Forrest, Campbell and Deakin which are all in the nation’s 10th percentage for socio-economic advantage and have long been associated as the haven of the nation’s political elite.

Amid a worsening cost-of-living squeeze against the backdrop of a 13th rate rise in 18 months, Canberra residents also endure high ­municipal rates, which have more than tripled over the past 10 years to an estimated $729m in 2022-23, and land taxes that have risen by two-thirds to $191m under the Labor-Greens government.

The new mum

In Charnwood, the fourth most disadvantaged suburb in the ACT in Canberra’s northwest where Ash Scott, 28, regularly goes shopping with her 10-month-old son Angus, she has been forced to contemplate she will soon need to cut out small luxuries like steaks and seafood once she and her partner come off their fixed mortgage.

Ms Scott, who bought a home with her partner in nearby Spence, has been on maternity leave from her job as an emergency transport worker to look after Angus, and the family has had to adjust to life on one income.

“We’re coming off our rate soon and we’re going to start struggling,” she said.

Ms Scott was generally supportive of the ACT government‘s focus on environmentalism but said the push towards electric cars and phase out of petrol vehicles won’t work for her as her family regularly travels interstate.

“An electric car wouldn’t work for us as we regularly go to Queensland and need to drive 1200km in a day, it wouldn’t last the distance,” she said.

However, she is supportive of the Barr government’s decriminalisation of hard drugs due to the harm-minimisation concerns. “I think it’s a good thing,” she said. “I’ve seen this in my job, if someone gets caught by the police, they could take all their pills at once and then they’re overdosing.”

Pide shop owner Rowena Mendoza. Picture: Jane Dempster

The businesswoman

Rowena Mendoza, 55, runs Charnwood Turkish Pide with her husband Marciano and they have raised their three children, now all in their 20s, in Dunlop.

Ms Mendoza is originally from The Philippines and decided to move to Canberra in 2009 and her family has been “satisfied and happy” with life.

“It’s a bit expensive to live here, but the wages are higher compared to other cities, so it helps you to cope with the high cost of living,” she said.

Though supportive of the Territory government’s agenda broadly, she was not supportive of Andrew Barr’s push to decriminalise drugs. “This is not allowed in The Philippines – it’s very conservative on this,” she said. “I think it’s dangerous.”

However, she supported the move to legislate voluntary assisted dying, saying: “Why not give people the freedom to choose for themselves?”

The retiree

John Korbl, 74, from MacGregor, said the cost of living was affecting him “terribly”, rating the ACT nine on a scale of 10 being the most unaffordable, and dismissing the Labor-Greens government as “idiots”. “Get them out,” he said. “Politicians wouldn’t know what a decent ham sandwich costs, as they don’t pay for it. They don’t care about us, they don’t listen to us, they decide on things themselves.”

MacGregor resident John Korbl. Picture: Jane Dempster

When asked what he thought of the push to decriminalise drugs, he said: “I don’t know who thinks of those ideas, they must be druggos I think.”

He was also dismissive of the push towards renewables. “It’ll never happen, they’re just sending the country broke; they’re sending us back to the stone age. “We’re supposed to be moving forward,” he said. “No one can do it without gas or coal, solar – nup forget it.”

Roof tiler Nick Oldfield. Picture: Jane Dempster

The tradie

Roof tiler Nick Oldfield, 34, from Latham, said it was “difficult” to run a small business in Canberra.

“I struggle to find work, it’s a lot quieter at the moment … because of the cost of living,” he said.

Mr Oldfield said the ACT government was wasting money on “stupid” expenses such as encouraging the uptake of electric vehicles, exacerbating the perceptions that Canberra was full of “bloody public servants”.

“They’ve got to think realistically the world runs on fuel,” he said. He also dismissed VAD reforms and drug decriminalisation as “another big waste of money”.

Harry and Amy Clark with their son Noah. Picture: Jane Dempster

The young parents

Harry and Amy Clark, both 30, and their son Noah, 10 months, regularly make the trip into Charnwood to do their shopping while they’re living with Amy’s parents in Fraser to save up a deposit for their first home.

Ms Clark is on maternity leave for 18 months and Mr Clark works in the height safety industry, and cost of living is at the top of their agenda.

“A deposit is a very difficult part of that process, but you just have to keep your head down and work hard and try and save it,” he said.

“There’s no place like home but it‘s a great place to bring up a small family and so many places for picnics and the schooling is great as well. I think its pretty common knowledge that if you go to emergency, you’re going to be waiting quite a long time.

“We know the medical system is under pressure but there must be something that can be done.”