Page 3521 - Week 11 - Thursday, 19 September 2013
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MR RATTENBURY: It turns out that we do know where there is some. But coming to what TAMS actually does, there are 87 shopping centres across TAMS that are part of our responsibilities. TAMS does litter and rubbish removal; park furniture maintenance; car park sweeping; pruning of trees and shrubs; weed control; and general cleaning, including of public toilets. Town centres and district shopping centres are cleaned daily, while neighbourhood shopping centres are cleaned at least weekly. Waste bins in town centres and district shopping centres are emptied at least three times per week and neighbourhood shopping centres at least weekly.
When it comes to our favourite issue of bird excrement at Rivett shops, we have discussed this in the chamber before. We have ascertained, and I have checked this, that it is on a private lease. I urge Mrs Jones to get in touch with the private leaseholder to further pressure them. At the end of the day, there is a limit to what government can actually do, and the community needs to take some responsibility.
Let me turn to mowing. Canberra has 5,200 hectares of open space that it mows across the city. This is without doubt one of the largest mowing programs of any jurisdiction in Australia. The program for 2013-14 has commenced; it commenced in the first week of September. Certainly the heavy rains are going to add to the challenge of keeping the grass under control, but there is a fleet of mowers out there that are doing the job.
Let me go to urban trees. TAMS manages over 730,000 trees in the urban area, which includes tree pruning and shaping for line of sight; removal of dead or damaged timber; and responding to the many public requests we get for people to inspect trees for safety and stability. TAMS has planted 868 new trees this year and will plant 800 more this spring. Unfortunately, 16 of the trees that were planted on Commonwealth Avenue as a centenary project have just been stolen, and this underlines the challenge that the government faces. I was at Belconnen Community Council on Tuesday night talking about TAMS issues, discussing with them the challenges of trying to deal with vandalism and general destruction. It is deeply frustrating when you think about 16 of these trees just being ripped out of the ground and stolen, and all the other types of vandalism that go on across the city that make it even harder to keep up across a large space.
There are other areas, of course, that TAMS has responsibility for. Playgrounds got a mention today. There are 507 playgrounds and nine skate parks in the territory, with equipment for children of different ages. Playgrounds are inspected on a program consistent with Australian standards, which define requirements for maintenance inspections; they are also inspected for cleanliness at least weekly in high-use areas and fortnightly in low-use areas. More comprehensive maintenance inspections are undertaken monthly.
TAMS is responsible for 119 barbecues in urban parklands and 248 barbecues in rural reserves and campgrounds. They are cleaned twice weekly in the urban area, weekly in high-profile locations and less frequently at isolated ones.
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