Page 4856 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 1 November 2017
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Woden, a full service centre, is open Monday to Friday 9 to 5 and Gungahlin, also a full service centre, is open Monday to Friday 8 to 6. But neither of these centres accepts cash or cheque, only electronic payment. I understand that the reason cash facilities are not available, for example, at the Woden centre is that it was designed to be welcoming and open, which impacts on physical security. However, I do find it hard to believe that a design that is both welcoming and safe for cash handling could not have been achieved if it had been given some thought early enough.
At least in Woden, though, there are banks and EFTPOS machines located nearby and staff will and can direct people to them if they do not have a credit card or a debit card to make payment. However, it is an inconvenience to Canberrans who may have already waited in long queues only to be told to go to the bank and then come back. When you get to the smaller centres, services are limited, times are reduced and they too provide a full range of payment methods.
For my constituents, the loss of the Dickson centre has had a significant impact. The Dickson centre closed on 8 September 2017 and, whilst I have been assured that this closure is temporary, it will not reopen for another three years. This has had significant bump-on effects, with an increase in the number of customers having to go to Belconnen, Gungahlin or Woden.
The reduction in services, the closure of some centres, changes to and limitations on the types of payment methods that can be handled at different centres, along with variable hours, all contribute to the frustration of Canberra residents in accessing essential services. In a letter to the Canberra Times on 20 September an Ainslie resident wrote:
On Monday September 11, I discovered that the Dickson Shopfront had closed. This leaves central Canberra and the Kurrajong electorate without any government shopfront. Each time I have visited the shopfront there have been significant queues. The media release put out by Access Canberra stated that the number of people visiting the shopfront had declined by 30 per cent over the last three years to a mere 10,000. But omitted to say by how much visits to other shopfronts had changed. Many residents in Canberra are aged or disabled and do not have the option of online transactions, whilst other matters need to be dealt with in person.
My rates have increased by over 30 per cent over the past three years, our footpaths are in very poor condition and now I will have to travel to Gungahlin or Belconnen to visit a shopfront. Why are the residents of Kurrajong electorate being discriminated against?
As a fellow Kurrajong resident I can only support and agree with those sentiments.
Clearly the gentleman who earlier today caused a commotion at the public entrance of the Assembly building also agreed. He was complaining that he was unable to renew his vehicle registration at the Civic library shopfront, the only shopfront, with very limited services, left in the vicinity of the city. The increase in customers attending fewer centres means that waiting times lengthen and, in an era when many Canberrans
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