Page 2727 - Week 07 - Thursday, 3 July 2008
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relatively small municipal matters. However, I say today that, as long as I am in this place, I will continue to send many more of them.
I do believe—and this goes back to the point of today’s MPI—that improvements are needed in proactively identifying and planning for deficiencies in the municipal infrastructure of Canberra. I would like to get to the stage where I receive far fewer complaints from people about isolated incidents that require attention. I have noticed some reduction in the number of complaints about the health system. That obviously indicates there are improvements occurring in that area, but I think we have got a long way to go. But with respect to municipal issues and concerns that are raised by residents, I think that more potential problems would have to be identified before they reach the stage where major repairs or replacements are required.
Canberra is, in world terms, a young city, but it is reaching an age when large areas of infrastructure are ageing and are in danger of falling into disrepair. Whilst an ad hoc, fix-it-as-it-is-reported approach will work to an extent, it will eventually result in the territory looking tired and run down. I believe this is what has happened now, and it probably has been happening for a decade or more. This is particularly true for older suburbs in more established parts of Canberra like the inner south and the inner north. The problem in these areas is twofold. On the one hand, suburbs like Campbell lack much of the infrastructure that is par for the course in newer suburbs. On the other hand, the infrastructure that is there is older and more likely to be in need of regular maintenance. We need more attention paid to these suburbs—not just responding to concerns, but identifying them before people complain about them. I am advocating a more proactive approach.
Beyond these older suburbs, to an extent I think the problems that we are experiencing now are a reflection on both the current and previous governments. In newer parts of Canberra, issues like cracked footpaths are less likely to be an immediate concern. However, it will be no time before areas like Tuggeranong and Gungahlin are no longer pristine, new areas with brand new infrastructure. Even the newer parts of Tuggeranong will soon reach the 10 to 15-year-old mark and will require significantly more attention to maintain the standard of municipal services.
It continues to stagger me that Mr Pratt has repeatedly in this place cited photos of either current or former government facilities that have been covered with graffiti and, for reasons that are beyond my comprehension, those problems do not seem to go away. I have also had complaints from people who are less than thrilled with the current policy whereby, if there is graffiti on property adjoining a public area, such as down on Hindmarsh Drive, where homes back onto Hindmarsh Drive, the policy now seems to be a matter of saying, “Well, the residents have got the problem.”
I believe that, to avoid the appearance of Gungahlin, say, becoming a major issue in five years time, we must adopt a more proactive approach now to ensuring that things like footpaths, roads, parks and the look of our city are regularly addressed, and so that we maintain standards. It is no different from a business locality: if you do not invest in maintenance, if you do not ensure that painting is regularly undertaken, if you do not ensure that broken things are addressed and if you wait until there is a complaint, it very quickly becomes an eyesore.
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