Page 2940 - Week 09 - Thursday, 13 August 2015
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quite disappointed, because in general terms I must say that when I write to Mr Rattenbury I get, at the very least, a very polite response. And on many occasions he has been very helpful—he and his department. I have written and thanked them for much of the work that they have done on behalf of my constituents.
Another example where I do not think we have had the best possible result is an inner street in Fadden that has no footpaths on either side of the street. Many residents who had gardens right down to the edge of the street got a letter from TAMS saying that they had to remove the garden beds so that people would have somewhere to walk, so they did not have to walk on the road. Many residents took the time and went to a lot of trouble to dig up gardens, remove trees et cetera so that there was room on the side of the road so pedestrians did not have to walk on the road. I think there are only three remaining areas on the street where the vegetation goes right up to the road. Those three areas are the public walkways that TAMS themselves are responsible for maintaining. They have contacted everyone in the street who has a garden to the roadside, asking them to remove their vegetation and gardens, but they have not done the same thing themselves. I find that rather incredible.
I would like to very quickly recap the fix my street issue. Again I took Mr Rattenbury at his word when he wrote to me many times saying I should lodge many of these constituent concerns on fix my street. As I mentioned the other day, and I am not sure if Mr Rattenbury was in the chamber, over the past 18 months or so I have lodged 64 different items on fix my street. I looked at those items early last week, I think. From what you can see online on fix my street—I thought the whole point of fix my street was that you would be able to follow it online—of the 64 items I lodged, nine were marked as resolved as at “last week”, 54 were marked as escalated and three were marked as referred to an SME. Some of those 52 marked as escalated may well have been fixed, but I would have thought that it would be recorded on fix my street so that when I looked it up I would be able to see whether it had been completed or not without actually having to go out to the location in Tuggeranong to check for myself.
These are some of those communication issues—again I will stress it—that would make everyone’s life much easier if they were dealt with.
I know it is not easy to look after all of those roads, all of those footpaths, all of those trees, all of that rubbish, and in many instances I have seen the good work that they have done and thanked Mr Rattenbury and his directorate. But I would encourage them to continue to communicate and consult—not during a process but before a process—and ensure that residents, not just in my electorate of Brindabella but throughout Canberra, can be reassured about and are able to see exactly what is happening in their own suburb.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (8.52): It seems almost ironic that the TAMS budget should be the second-last part of the appropriation bill, because it often seems that TAMS is just as low on the government’s priority list. However, when I meet with residents of Ginninderra, suburb maintenance is high on their priority list—issues like cracked footpaths and cycle paths, the lack of mowing leading to grass getting out of control in the spring and summer time, the lack of street sweeping in the suburbs, potholes in roads and streets, dangerous trees and debris on footpaths, run-down local shops and graffiti.
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