Page 2979 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 12 October 2022
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allow Roads ACT to better recognise underlying issues and target solutions. Improvements in sensor technology have led to an upcoming expansion of sensor-collected road pavement condition data on municipal roads.
Finally, the ACT government is working with established experts, including the Australian Road Research Board, which Ms Lawder mentioned. We have been working with them for some time. It is not as a result of this motion; there has now been well over a year’s worth of work undertaken on an updated road network evidence base to inform future strategic road maintenance and the development of a new, updated program.
Following the finalisation of the research that is underway, I am looking forward to providing the Assembly with an update on the ACT government’s strategic road maintenance program, which has been in development for some time. We are keen to do that early in 2023. The ARRB have had some IT issues that they are working through at the moment. I am not sure whether that is rain related. These actions that we will be undertaking will lead to an improvement in the condition of our roads over some time.
In the short term we are asking Canberrans to be patient as works are underway, and the preventive road resurfacing program will be getting underway very shortly. Road maintenance activity may mean that some road and lane closures will occur, as our crews work to provide a safe and reliable network. We also remind road users to drive to the conditions, particularly the weather conditions, which are changing as that weather system moves through.
I encourage Canberrans, including Ms Lawder and her Liberal colleagues, to report potholes to Fix My Street. Such reports are really important for Roads ACT to identify where there are dangerous potholes, so that they can be responded to as quickly as possible. I do that myself. If I see one, I report it; they then get fixed. Those road defects are something that we need to address, and we encourage people to report those when they can so that we can deliver a safe and reliable road network.
I have circulated an amendment in my name which acknowledges the significant work underway, the strategic work that we are doing with the ARRB to develop the evidence base, going forward, and the additional resources that we are putting into maintaining a safe road network.
In relation to Ms Lawder’s proposed amendment to my amendment, which she has also circulated, we will not be supporting that amendment. The reason is that there is clear information about how to make a claim, if someone sustains damage to their vehicle as a result of a pothole on the ACT road network, on the TCCS website. They need to do a search and make a claim to TCCS, and they will find that on the website. I am happy to provide the address as well, for members’ interest. I move:
Omit all words after “That this Assembly”, substitute:
“(1) notes that:
(a) two years of rainfall as a result of La Nina weather events and climate change has led to an increase in damage to ACT roads and this weather is forecast to continue into 2023;
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