Page 1460 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 24 March 2010
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This is from another letter, received from a gentleman in Scullin:
I am deeply concerned about the ongoing neglect of Canberra’s streets where weeds, cracked concrete and gravel erosion are beginning to show hazards all around. Shoddy lawn mowing and lengthy delays in mowing periods, inadequate weed abatement, poor path maintenance and more such problems are becoming very common occurrences in the ACT.
It goes on:
I would ask you to take a good drive around the Belconnen district suburbs of Florey, Macgregor, Higgins, Page, Belconnen town centre, and no doubt many other areas of Canberra which are scrappy in appearance, to say the least, and realise how bad the problem now is.
I know that my Ginninderra colleagues, Mrs Dunne and Mr Coe, not only regularly go around these areas but are also advocating on behalf of the residents in these places.
I want to go to some of the issues at some of the shopping centres we have been to—there are a number—and I want to talk just about a small handful. Just last Friday Mrs Dunne and I visited Evatt shops and I am sure Mrs Dunne, when she has the opportunity to speak, will talk a little about some of the feedback we got at Evatt shops. We heard from shop owners about the basic maintenance work that needs to be undertaken by the government. This includes improved lighting, removal of graffiti, repair of cracked concrete and a lack of basic signage on nearby arterial roads directing people to the shops.
Evatt is an ageing centre. It has been with us for many years. It is clearly in need of a facelift as, Madam Assistant Speaker, I am sure you would know. This is a local centre. In many ways it is a thriving local centre. It has a number of different stores. It is important to the community of Evatt and it is important that the government takes up these concerns. We have written to the Chief Minister—I think we signed the letter today—in relation to this, to try to get action in relation to Evatt.
We visited Manuka shops a couple of times in the last couple of weeks and we were shown around the shopping precinct by a local retailer. He showed us lifting pavers, which were dangerous to staff in cafes, broken streetlights, graffiti, inadequate and missing signage.
I wrote to the Chief Minister on this issue and, I understand, today I have received advice from the Chief Minister that these issues are being addressed. We hope that they will be addressed very quickly, because Manuka, of course, is really one of our great centres. It is a place where not just a lot of Canberrans like to go but, indeed, a lot of tourists. It is a showcase of Canberra. Many people from interstate and internationally come there.
I think it is important that we put our best foot forward in relation to Manuka. As I said, and the Chief Minister would not have heard, I did receive a letter back from the Chief Minister on this issue—today was when I first saw it—undertaking to address this. So we certainly hope that the issues around Manuka can be addressed.
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