Page 1516 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 14 May 2014
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understanding. They appreciate that it has been noted and they accept that there is an efficiency in leaving it that long to get the work done just so that a whole suburb can be done at one time for efficiency’s sake. It is an ongoing piece of work and one that I will continue to make sure TAMS delivers on as effectively as it can. I now move the amendment circulated in my name:
Omit all words after “That this Assembly”, substitute:
“notes:
(1) footpaths in all of Canberra’s suburbs require ongoing maintenance and upgrading over time to ensure Canberrans, particularly older residents, are able to use them for transport, recreation and exercise;
(2) Territory and Municipal Services Directorate (TAMS) uses a detailed system of investigation, reporting and prioritisation to decide on upgrades and maintenance schedules, analysing factors such as usage rates and safety; and
(3) TAMS publishes planned works programs for community path maintenance on its website.”.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations and Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development) (5.40): Labor members will be supporting Mr Rattenbury’s amendment this afternoon, because I think he has outlined that, as a government, we have a very comprehensive program and a reasoned and rational framework for the maintenance of this important community infrastructure. I was particularly struck by Mr Rattenbury’s mention of the fact that Territory and Municipal Services do actually disclose their maintenance program. I have been able to call that up.
There is an online reference here for upgrades to north Canberra footpaths, including the suburbs of Ainslie, for example, one of the older suburbs that Mr Doszpot mentioned, Downer and Watson, also older suburbs, as well as newer suburbs like Weetangera, Holt, Charnwood, Flynn, Spence, Melba, Evatt, Mackellar, Ngunnawal, Gungahlin and Macgregor, and includes things such as removing existing 75 to 100-millimetre footpaths and replacing them with 100-millimetre concrete paths in places such as 3 Angas Street in Ainslie, outside Goodwin Village. It includes repairs at the corner of Sherbrooke and McColl streets in Ainslie. It includes upgrades outside 11 Atherton Street in Downer. So it highlights very clearly the maintenance program in place by the government to respond to the concerns raised by the community.
That is entirely appropriate, as Mr Rattenbury says. The maintenance of assets should be based not solely on their age but on their condition and worthiness and the safety risks and hazards that they may present if the asset has deteriorated. I commend Territory and Municipal Services also for putting online their policy in relation to footpath maintenance. There members of the public can see clearly the rationale for maintenance of footpaths, in what circumstances action will be taken, in what time frames and the types of actions that will be taken. All that is publicly available for members of the public to see.
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