Basic suburban maintenance has steadily declined under the ACT Labor-Greens government, the Canberra Liberals claim. Today, Shadow Minister for City Services Nicole Lawder will call on the government to develop a surburban maintenance strategy to improve the cleanliness of Canberra suburbs.
Following ongoing community concerns, the Canberra Liberals believe it is time for the Labor-Greens government to start prioritising suburban maintenance.
“For years now, we have been hearing from residents about the slipping standards of suburban maintenance throughout Canberra,” Ms Lawder said.
In 2023 alone, 705 pothole-related compensation claims were made to the ACT Government about vehicle damage from ACT roads, Ms Lawder noted. The City Services website states that the ACT Government should advise applicants about the outcome of their claim within 60 days. However, claims took on average 69 days to be completed in 2023, not including the days for Shared Services to process the payment.
“Whether it’s overgrown grass, pothole-plagued roads, or broken play equipment being left unusable for months, Canberrans are rightly tired of their neighbourhoods being neglected,” Ms Lawder said.
“Despite repeated community complaints, the Labor-Greens government has failed to adequately prioritise this issue. Basic local services only get minor additional investment when the Labor-Greens Government has no choice but to listen to the barrage of community outrage.
“Take mowing, for instance. The Labor-Greens government only acted following enormous community pressure to do so. Yet despite this, they’ve refused to make the rapid mowing response team a permanent initiative, irrespective of Assembly committee reports recommending just that.”
In 2004, The Canberra Times reported that the ACT Department of Urban Services had more than 80 mowers at its disposal. Today, the ACT Government has 82 mowers in their fleet, 12 of which are dedicated to sporting fields.
“Residents put in the time and effort to make their households presentable and to maintain the nature strips as required,” Ms Lawder said. “It’s time this Labor-Greens government started focusing on cleaning up our neighbourhoods.”
