“On the morning of the leadership vote, my wife asked how I felt. I told her the truth: I felt sick… because I feared letting people down.” In this opinion piece, the new Canberra Liberals leader MARK PARTON reveals his hopes and fears for a city he reckons is worth fighting for. 

When I was elected leader of the Canberra Liberals last month, the weight of responsibility hit me in a way I didn’t expect.

On the morning of the leadership vote, my wife asked how I felt. I told her the truth: I felt sick. Not because I doubted our team, but because I feared letting people down. 

Leadership isn’t about titles, it’s about carrying the hopes and frustrations of the people you serve. And right now, those frustrations are real.

Canberra has always been a city built on possibility, a place where families moved for stability, opportunity, and a fair go. Yet too many Canberrans now tell me they feel like they’re slipping backwards. They don’t stay awake worrying about politics. They stay awake worrying about the bills stacked on the fridge, the rising cost of keeping a home, and whether their children will have a future here.

A mother in Tuggeranong recently told me she lies awake wondering how she’ll pay her next rates bill. She worries her daughter will never buy a home, and that her elderly father won’t get surgery in time. That conversation wasn’t unique. It reflects a growing anxiety felt across our suburbs, an anxiety this government has stopped hearing.

After more than two decades in office, this government has lost touch with the people it represents. Families are paying more and receiving less. The ACT’s debt has climbed so high that one in every five dollars of revenue now goes to servicing it, money that should be supporting hospitals, schools, transport and frontline services.

Housing is one of the clearest signs of a system failing the people it is meant to serve. It now takes two full-time incomes just to keep a roof over your head in Canberra. Young people are being pushed out of the city entirely, unable to compete in a market shaped by limited land release, slow planning decisions, and year after year of rising rates and charges. Renters are stretched, homeowners are stressed, and first-home buyers see the dream slipping further away.

Our essential services tell a similar story. If you need a GP, you wait. If you need emergency care, you wait. If you need elective surgery, you wait, sometimes far too long. 

Our ambulance service has the lowest number of officers per capita in the country, and frontline health workers are stretched beyond capacity. Canberrans pay some of the highest costs in the nation for a system that too often leaves them at the back of the line.

Public safety is another growing worry. Every day in this city, assaults occur, cars are stolen, and homes or small businesses are broken into. Communities feel uneasy, and they feel unheard. People deserve to feel safe in their homes, on their streets, and in their neighbourhoods, but policing levels have not kept pace with need.

These problems are not inevitable. They are the consequence of choices: of prioritising attention-grabbing projects over reliable services, of budgets that rely on continually increasing charges, and of short-term fixes instead of long-term planning. Too many major projects have cost more, taken longer, and delivered less than promised. Too often, responsibility has been passed on to taxpayers, tenants, small businesses, and future generations.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Canberra can again be a city where families thrive, where young people can afford to stay, and where services work when you need them. But that requires a change in direction and a government willing to listen.

The Canberra Liberals are focused on restoring that trust. We will prioritise what matters: making housing more affordable, strengthening frontline health services, improving community safety, ending waste, and restoring fiscal responsibility.

We will put practical solutions ahead of ideology and work constructively to achieve outcomes that serve all Canberrans, not just those who can keep meeting rising costs.

We will listen to families who feel ignored, to young people locked out of home ownership, to frontline workers under strain, and to small businesses struggling with higher fees and uncertainty. Canberra deserves leadership grounded in reality, respect, and common sense.

Canberra is worth fighting for. Its people are worth fighting for. It is time to focus the government on what matters, rebuild trust, and reclaim Canberra for the people who live and work here.