The pie was the image.
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There would be a bigger pie for Canberrans if the Liberals gain power, their leader, Alistair Coe, promised in a bakery.
The Liberals would "grow the pie". There would be a "bigger pie for everyone".
But the Liberal leader did accept that there would be a "hit" to public spending if the party won power. He estimated that his proposed reduction in taxation would amount to $160 million over four years.
Mr Coe laid out the broad strategy in clear terms: lower taxes under a Liberal ACT government would lead to more economic growth, and so to what he thought would be no great cut in public spending, plus more money left in citizens' pockets.
He homed in on the taxes lost to the ACT government because of the growth of housing areas on the other side of the border such as Googong, South Jerrabomberra, Bungendore and Murrumbateman.
He said it was now possible to buy a house and land in some of these areas for the price of the land in Canberra - in other words, he said, people could get a home for free.
In effect, suburban Canberra was now growing outside the ACT because the cost of doing business and living in the ACT was too high.
"Land just across the border is cheaper," he said. "This is suburban development. We are talking about suburbia which could be here in Canberra."
The pie was the thing: "The pie is a pretty attractive pie but the ACT government made a lot of our pies more expensive."
"We are committed to growing the ACT pie."
"We want to make this an affordable place for everyone. We want to grow the pie."
He promised bigger and better pies as he and his deputy Nicole Lawder made ... apple pies at the Cakery Bakery at the Erindale Shopping Centre in Wanniassa.
But despite the hoopla for the cameras, a clear message emerged about where differences with Labor might lie.
The pitch is that lowering costs through lowering taxation would attract people and businesses which otherwise would go over the border to NSW.
"More than $400 million has been lost by the ACT in profit on land sales and stamp duty," the Liberals said.
"Another $200m has already been lost in rates, rego, GST grants and cross-border health policies. Every year we lose another $50 million."
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
