Page 2159 - Week 07 - Thursday, 16 May 2013
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Municipal services—street sweeping
MR WALL: My question is to the Minister for Territory and Municipal Services. Minister, according to the street sweeping schedule for the year as published on the TAMS website, suburbs such as Ainslie, Turner and O’Connor are scheduled to be swept five times during the year. However, the vast number of suburbs in my electorate are only scheduled to receive two or three sweeps per year. Minister, why are streets in Tuggeranong and south Woden not receiving the same level of attention as suburbs in the inner north?
Mr Seselja: Shame!
MR RATTENBURY: Far from the shame suggested by Mr Seselja in a very parochial manner, there is actually a very good explanation for this. The standard procedure for all suburbs is to be swept twice a year but those parts of Canberra that have a large number of mature deciduous trees and therefore shed a significant number of leaves require additional street sweeping during the autumn season. So TAMS schedules additional sweeps at that time of year to clean up the significant number of leaves that fall.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Wall.
MR WALL: Minister, given the substantial rates increases residents in Tuggeranong have experienced, what increase in maintenance services are they receiving and why are they still receiving far less than the inner north?
MR RATTENBURY: Having answered the previous question, I think the premise of Mr Wall’s question is shown to be flawed.
MADAM SPEAKER: It also had a preamble.
MR RATTENBURY: I can assure members of the chamber that all of Canberra gets as good a level of service as TAMS can provide. There is a whole range of services that TAMS provides to the community with the resources that are available to it. I have spoken in this chamber before, as have some of my predecessors, about those things. They included the regular litter picks that happen, street sweeping, the cleaning of public toilets and the maintenance of parks and reserves. All of these services are provided across Canberra as much as they can be within the resources available and on an equal basis, other than in some obvious things—like the street sweeping which I have spoken about—where there are particular geographic needs, and those do vary across different parts of town.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Coe.
MR COE: Minister, what explicit additional services have been delivered in Belconnen as a result of the revenue brought in by the LVC?
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