Page 1518 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 14 May 2014
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streets to get to the shops. I have had neighbours who have complained to everyone that will listen to them, and yet still nothing has been done about the inadequacy of the lighting.
Mr Rattenbury has mentioned that, yes, some of the infrastructure and some of these lights are fairly old and obviously are not of the same quality as they are elsewhere. So there is an admission that, yes, we have got this problem. But what are we doing about it? What are we doing about providing some upgrade to the infrastructure, to the people in the suburbs, where now they are paying the highest rates in Canberra, and growing each year? Yet we are asking them to accept inferior infrastructure within their own communities.
It is, I think, incumbent on Mr Rattenbury, as the Minister for Ageing as well as for TAMS, to have a look at and have a good listen to what has been said here today on behalf of the constituents that we represent. And they are his constituents as well. We have called on the government to do certain things which are certainly not outside of the scope of his ability to do. That would give some relief to the people who are concerned about the issues that they confront on a daily basis.
I cannot accept his amendment, because the amendment basically simply wipes out a lot of the points that we have noted, and that is:
that footpaths in Canberra’s older suburbs, including Yarralumla, Deakin, Griffith, Forrest and Campbell are in a serious state of neglect, with many cracks and uneven surfaces;
But according to his amendment, 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. He is rewriting history, in a way, as to what is actually happening at the moment and what the intentions of the government are. We are looking at these same suburbs that have issues with overgrown and overhanging street trees that obstruct the poor lighting. What are you doing about that?
We are asking the government, with this motion, to carry out certain acts, acts that are absolutely available to the government. I call on the government once again to:
publish current maintenance schedules up until the end of this calendar year by the next sitting period in June 2014;
I am asking the government to publish the updates to maintenance and schedules quarterly and to urgently prioritise older suburbs for improvements. So I cannot accept the amendment Mr Rattenbury has put here. I call once again for the government to have a look at what we are asking for. It is nothing more, nothing less than the community demands, and that is good governance and transparency in the provision of services.
Question put:
That the amendment be agreed to.
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