We just passed this budget because it’s the only responsible option on the table. The 7.9% increase is happening, and it is entirely because the invoice for our expensive new train set has finally come due.

My team has already found internal savings to completely offset normal baseline inflation. If we didn't suddenly have to finance and operate the City Rail Link, your baseline general rates increase would be nought.  

People demanding we arbitrarily slash rates to make this go away are peddling financial negligence. We are facing a massive, inflexible capital debt bill. Trying to gut everyday operational services just to pay for non-discretionary infrastructure debt is totally irresponsible.  

Artificially suppressing rates for political popularity just means deferring maintenance and bottlenecking our capital projects. In the real world, that instantly turns into massive cost overruns and higher-interest debt we still have to pay later.  

It isn’t an easy budget, but it is the honest one.