Canberra Liberals Leader Elizabeth Lee, concerned by what she calls “the deteriorating state of Canberra’s suburbs”, will call today on the ACT Government to return more of ACT taxpayers’ money back into their neighbourhoods.

Ms Lee said that basic maintenance of suburbs has steadily declined over the last decade, despite the government collecting a record amount of taxes from Canberrans.

Revenue collected by the ACT government from taxpayers through rates and charges has more than doubled to over $1.3 billion since 2012, when Chief Minister Andrew Barr announced his tax reform agenda aimed at removing inefficient taxes and abolishing stamp duty, Ms Lee noted.

The increase in taxation revenue, Ms Lee remarked, is due to household rates and utilities tax each increasing on average 8 per cent per year; vehicle registration costs increasing by nearly 6 per cent per year; and ambulance and emergency services levies increasing by more than 10 per cent per year. Annual revenue received from stamp duty – a tax Mr Barr promised to abolish – has nearly doubled to more than $440 million, Ms Lee remarked.

“Canberrans are feeling let down and neglected as they look around their neighbourhoods and see broken footpaths, overgrown verges and parks, roads riddled with potholes, overflowing rubbish bins, playgrounds broken and lacking shade, and neglected waterways,” Ms Lee said.

“Every day, I receive complaints from members of the community who are fed up with the state of their suburbs, fed up with waiting weeks, months and even years for things to be fixed, and fed up with being neglected by this Labor-Greens government.

“Our suburbs and local neighbourhoods are the bedrock of our city. They are not just buildings but the places where we live, where we bring up our children, where we socialise with friends and family; and where we create our community.

“The extra hundreds of millions of dollars Andrew Barr is collecting from Canberra ratepayers year after year is not going back into our neighbourhoods. It’s not going back into our suburbs, and it is clearly not going into our essential local services.

“This motion is very simple.  It calls on the Labor-Greens government to invest more of Canberra ratepayers’ own money back into our neighbourhoods, and our communities.”

Nicole Lawder, Shadow Minister for City Services, moved a motion in the Legislative Assembly last month to develop a suburban maintenance strategy aimed at improving Canberra suburbs.

Chris Steel, ACT Minister for City Services, entirely amended Ms Lawder’s motion. He noted that the ACT Government had increased funding for city services (road maintenance funding increased by 52 per cent; path maintenance by 40 per cent; $24 million for urban trees; $2.6 million for mowing; $9.2 million for streetlights; $23.5 million for stormwater infrastructure; shop and playground upgrades). Wet weather had affected the road network and mowing. The government would improve the Fix My Street system.

“It has become very clear that this government has no interest in addressing our declining suburbs, which is why we have gone from a city befitting of the nation’s capital to a city that looks tired and neglected,” Ms Lawder said.

“Despite repeated community complaints, the Labor-Greens government has continually failed to adequately prioritise this issue, and as a result, basic local services only get minor additional investment.”

ACT Government response

“The ACT Government is in the process of rolling out the biggest ever investment in suburban infrastructure in the ACT,” Mr Steel said today. “Canberrans are well familiar with these upgrades, which has included significant improvements to local shops, playgrounds, new dog parks, public toilets, and new active travel projects. 

“Following years of consistent La Niña weather cycles, we have strengthened mowing with new rapid response mowing teams, and made a significant investment in maintaining footpaths with new in-house repair teams that will be more responsive to the community.

“This is in addition to our new strategic roads maintenance program that has seen an increased investment of 52 per cent, taking investment up to $153 million over four years, which was developed with experts and based on evidence. 

“The Canberra Liberals did not commit to a program of upgrading local shops or other suburban upgrades at the last election, or have a specific plan to invest in Canberra’s ageing suburbs. Only Labor has that plan, and we’re getting on with the job of delivering for our city.”