Page 176 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 11 February 2015
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
within one week, or a work order is raised and addressed in order of priority. That can then take an amount of time, depending on the level of works that need to be done. For example, minor works can usually be done quite quickly. More significant works will need to go into a budget program and can take longer, with the necessity to be placed in the forward works program.
There is obviously much more to say about the program generally, but I wanted to provide that information to members by way of background.
When it comes to the Narrabundah pplayground, which has particularly provoked this matter, there are two elements to it. One is to perhaps provide a time line for Mrs Jones’s benefit. On Friday, 23 January, local residents undertook a protest at Rocky Knob and WIN News ran a story. I had been sent a tweet message the day before, indicating that this issue was emerging; it was the first time it had come to my attention. Then the Canberra Times ran a story on Saturday the 24th. The Monday was a public holiday. I went to the playground site on the 27th with TAMS staff because I was not satisfied with the decision that had been taken.
So well before Mrs Jones wrote me a letter I had already gone to the site. I was not aware of the decision that had been taken; that was not something that I had authorised. Being a minister does not mean that you sign off on every single one of these decisions. We have a range of staff in our departments to whom we delegate these decisions. We do not sign off on all these day-to-day decisions, because that would be micromanaging the directorates, and there is simply not the time to do that. As the minister, where a decision is taken that I am not satisfied with, the job is for me to both perhaps address that particular decision and also look at the systemic issues behind it. That is why I went to the site on 27 January and asked TAMS to come back to me with some further options.
On Friday, 30 January, TAMS and I agreed an outcome, which was to undertake the repairs. I approved a media statement to this effect and I tweeted the person who had messaged me in the first instance with an indication that that was the decision and that she would be contacted by the department with more details in the near future.
On Sunday, 1 February, that media release went to the Canberra Times. On Monday, 2 February, the Canberra Times printed that story. Mrs Jones’s letter was received at my office after the Canberra Times had printed this story. I sent a letter in response to Mrs Jones on Friday, 6 February.
That is the record of the time line of events. Mrs Jones can do with that as she will. I am sure she will continue to claim the credit for the reversal of the decision.
When it comes to Narrabundah playground, it will now be fixed. That was an isolated decision, but three playgrounds were identified in that process. That is not consistent with any government policy.
When it comes to actually having a strategy on playgrounds, there is, as I talked about, the ongoing maintenance program, the future of playgrounds in the ACT and how we deal with them as a bigger picture issue. What is the right way to proceed? Do we
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video