Page 539 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 19 February 2020
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I would also like to thank Labor members Mr Gupta, Mr Pettersson and Ms Orr for their contribution today. Whilst not shining a huge light on the issue, they are reinforcing to the electorate that there is a clear choice coming for local representation this year. Alistair Coe and I are genuinely engaged in what matters to residents of the Gungahlin region.
Surprisingly, I even want to thank Mr Steel. His response to this motion has been more positive than I first expected, though his amendments try to overplay the impact of the reforms the government made last year. Yes, there were some changes made, but have they been effective? Have enforcement actions increased? Has the cost of removing illegal dumping and litter reduced? Do our schools look cleaner and better maintained? The answer to all of this, I believe, is no. Those opposite would say that they need more time to see the results of the changes that they made earlier this year, to see if there has been a real change. We will wait to see what comes out of that.
I am really pleased that the government is agreeing to a review of the resourcing and authority given to our city rangers. Maybe then we can start to employ proactive and preventative strategies as well as commonsense measures to help reduce this problem. Such strategies include reviewing the reporting process to make it simpler. Even an icon in the home page for reports would be helpful, rather than it being buried deep within a form or as part of a separate document you need to complete. Using mobile technology to our advantage should be front of mind: take a photo, submit the address, an alert goes out to city rangers then they attend the site. There are already apps on the market for this service. Taking that a step further, can’t we take the data collected as part of reporting processes and use that to form predictive enforcement and trend analysis? Surely what I am proposing is not out of this world. I suppose we shall wait and see.
Again, I would like to thank everyone for their contribution today, but what I really hope is that there is more action, more enforcement and more support for residents and local businesses.
Before I conclude, I would like to share remarks from Paulina, a resident in Forde who has reported the state of one particular block for years. She said:
It’s has been like this for years and more just keeps getting dumped and nobody does anything—it makes me furious.
It has beds, mattresses, office furniture and all sorts.
I get so mad every time I look at it.
It’s right near Mulligans Flat and with all that dry grass and abandoned furniture, I wonder whether it could be a fire hazard.
The last time I spoke with Access Canberra they said they went and did an inspection, and it’s not an issue.
How is that possible—it’s an eyesore and it’s dangerous.
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