Page 2986 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 12 October 2022
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There is a large one just south of the Beaurepaire Crescent and Messenger Street intersection. East of the Belconnen Way and Bindubi Street intersection, going towards Calvary Hospital, there are multiple potholes, ranging from 90 centimetres to 40 centimetres in length. The Cohen Street and Lathlain Street intersection, going south, has a large pothole right at the lights, affecting both drivers and pedestrians. Additionally, Cohen Street has potholes at the Jolly Street and Nettlefold intersections.
Last but not least of the potholes in Canberra, there is a large one at the traffic lights at the intersection of Akuna Street and London Circuit. This one would likely be seen by members of the government every single day.
These potholes were found in only a handful of my electorate suburbs, in just a couple of hours of driving, two nights ago. They are by no means the extent of the potholes in my electorate. Minister, fix the streets in my electorate. I know that the government has been keen to get the ACT more involved in the growing space sector, but having our roads fall into such disrepair that they more closely resemble the surface of the moon than a modern city is not what Canberrans thought the government had in mind.
I warned the government five years ago that this was coming. I said five years ago that it would only be a matter of time before these roads began to fail. At that time, I said, “Numerous roads in the territory are pitted with potholes, and often the repairs to these potholes do not last.” The only difference between then and now is the location of the potholes. It is the same government, different potholes.
In closing, I would like to thank the Canberra community for letting me know about potholes in their area. I especially thank the Facebook group Canberra Potholes for raising awareness of the issue and pointing me towards a few potholes in my electorate that helped fill this speech. Thank you.
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (5.04): I move an amendment to Mr Steel’s amendment:
Add new paragraph (2) (c):
“(c) add information to the Our CBR newsletter on how residents can claim compensation for pothole-inflicted damage to their vehicle.”.
My amendment adds a simple clause to Mr Steel’s amendment. Whilst I do not agree with everything in Mr Steel’s amendment, if we could add this clause, at 2(c), I could find Mr Steel’s amendment palatable. The amendment calls on the government to include in the Our CBR newsletter information about how to claim repairs for your vehicle when damaged by a pothole. This would make Our CBR newsletter much more useful for me than a headline saying that light rail is coming, when I live in Tuggeranong. I think that it would be much more useful to easily find out how to claim for tyre repairs—especially for older Canberrans, which was the rationale the government used recently for having the paper copy of the Our CBR newsletter.
Mr Steel has referred to the fact that the information is quite clear on the TCCS website, but, on the other hand, the government said that the reason for a paper-based Our CBR newsletter was that it is better suited to older Canberrans. So they have the
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