Page 2811 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 13 August 2019
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minister that there is no direct correlation between the number in the back of the budget papers and the target percentage of roads resealed. He said that the numbers reflect that they have done a blitz and things are going back to normal.
The target percentage of roads resealed and the estimated outcome of roads resealed last financial year does not reflect a blitz. Rather, those targets and estimated outcomes are consistent with this year’s financial year targets without the blitz funding. I am not sure why the minister and the government think they can slash the budget but the percentage of the roads resealed will remain stable and satisfaction will remain the same. One conclusion you could draw is that the method of resealing may be cheaper. If it is, that could well be a good thing but it might also be a bad thing. Does cheaper mean poorer quality? I guess time will tell.
An area I receive a lot of complaints about is footpaths, shared paths and community paths. I know the minister receives a lot of those complaints forwarded from me, and I thank the minister and his staff and departmental staff for their responses. They are always respectful and polite and are often helpful. I pass on my appreciation for that because these issues affect people as soon as they walk out their front door and see a pothole or a streetlight that is not working. People care about these issues and they contact me all the time. I am sure the minister receives these from not just me but many other members as well.
We need to do more on footpath maintenance. As the shadow minister for urban services and also the shadow minister for seniors I cannot keep count of the number of people who write to me about footpaths. We put money in the budget over the past few years into active travel projects, the age-friendly suburbs project and footpath infrastructure, but the fact remains that so many of our footpaths are in disrepair, sometimes dangerously so.
We need to think about outcomes and not just how much money we are spending. Are we getting the results Canberrans need, want and expect? The estimates committee recognised this when it found:
Despite assurances from the Minister that there has been an increase in funding for active travel infrastructure, the Committee remains concerned about the growing number of footpaths in disrepair and in need of maintenance.
I share that concern absolutely. The committee recommended that the ACT government invest more resources into footpath and shared path repair and maintenance, and I agree.
According to questions taken on notice, the community path maintenance budget comes from the same pool of funding as the road maintenance budget, which, as I have already referred to, has just been slashed by $17 million. So how are we going to get more footpath, community path and shared path maintenance out of a budget that is being slashed? Actions speak louder than words, and members can make what they can of those numbers.
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