My condolences to the Snow family on the death of Canberra legend Terry Snow. Terry and his family built Canberra Airport and environs (Brindabella Park) up from a rustic country airport in 1998 to the world-class airport and business hub it is today. He established the Snow Foundation that has given more than $90 million to local charities, and was instrumental in initiating some brilliant developments in Canberra and the region. It was an honour and pleasure to know him, and I fully support calls for a statue of him to be erected in a prominent place (maybe at the entrance to the airport).

Now, I’m no economic rationalist, so I was interested in an idea my good mate and fellow Belco Party candidate Alan Tutt had the other day.

Tutty was talking to his old North Canberra mate Phil Hogan, who used to run the North Canberra Parks and Garden Depot.

In the 1980s, Canberra, unlike now, was well serviced by dedicated teams of gardeners, arborists, drivers, labourers, and street maintenance people, who would keep our sporting fields, parks, roads, footpaths, etc., in good order, with the grass regularly and neatly mowed, and shopping centres clean and rubbish-free.

Phil told Tutty that the various depots would even have competitions amongst themselves to be the best at getting a cricket pitch prepared and an oval looking neat and shipshape. Alas, with self-government and economic rationalism, these dedicated workers were supplanted by contractors.

The old regime was also responsible for employing many apprentice arborists, gardeners, mechanics, and even plumbers, and many a young Canberran got their start by working for the old Parks and Gardens.

I have written before about how badly Canberra has deteriorated compared to surrounding towns in NSW when it comes to basic urban maintenance.

I wonder if it really would be much more expensive if we brought back Parks and Gardens. A lot of the current contract workers could find work there – and probably with better terms and conditions of employment.

Tutty reckons he’s going to run with this as a Belco Party Policy for the election – and I think it’s got a lot of merit.

When I was a minister in the mid-1990s, I did a few studies into the relevant costs of government services and contract services, and I was pleasantly surprised at how competitive the government services could be.

An incoming government could do some costings and compare what we are paying now for a substandard result to what it would cost to reintroduce Parks and Gardens. That would include the cost of apprenticeships and traineeships. But the benefits of the scheme compared to the current situation need to be assessed; and if it’s not hugely more expensive, we should go for it, in my view.

I would be interested in hearing what readers think about this idea, or indeed any other ideas they have that parties and candidates contesting this upcoming local election should look at doing to better our city.

Editor’s note: Bill Stefaniak will stand as a Belco Party candidate for Ginninderra in the ACT election in October.