Page 3739 - Week 12 - Thursday, 25 November 2021
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I hope members are getting a sense of the huge amount of planning and coordination that go into keeping our city looking its best during the spring and summer. It is not just a matter of getting the Victa out of the shed on a Sunday afternoon. This is a large-scale logistical operation that is underpinned by a lot of planning work and investment.
Overall, we are taking practical steps to make sure that we have the resources, the mowers, to mow more hectares of open space every year. We will continue to monitor the weather patterns that we are facing and, if it looks like additional surge funding may be needed, of course, we will consider that, just as we delivered during the last mowing season as well. I propose an amendment which provides factual clarifications to the original motion and reflects the significant investment our government is making in mowing services across the city, as well as recognising the work that we need to do going forward to make sure that we respond to urban maintenance issues that arise as a result of our changing climate.
I move:
Omit all text after “That this Assembly”, substitute:
“(1) notes that:
(a) on 12 October, the Bureau of Meteorology predicted a La Nina alert for this summer which was upgraded on 23 November;
(b) Canberra experienced its wettest winter in five years with more than 215 millimetres of rain being recorded at the Canberra Airport;
(c) the recent ACT lockdown period caused significant disruption to employment and service delivery across all sectors in the ACT, including regular mowing program activities;
(d) the spring suburban mowing program commenced on 13 September and is operating at full capacity;
(e) overgrown grass poses a significant fire hazard, can reduce driver visibility and increases the risk of snake encounters, particularly as Canberra experiences warmer weather;
(f) Canberra residents want to take pride in their suburbs and be able to enjoy their neighbourhood parks and grasslands;
(g) in the 2019-20 financial year, there were 8177 Fix My Street requests relating to ‘grass, trees and shrubs’ lodged by residents;
(h) the ACT Government has boosted mowing funding by $2.1 million to increase the number of mowing staff and mowing equipment, weeding activities, and follow-up amenity maintenance; and
(i) the City Services crew does a great job, and will continue to deliver services for Canberrans with additional staff and an increased mowing fleet; and
(2) calls on the ACT Government to:
(a) continue providing high levels of funding to mowing activities across Canberra;
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