Page 2934 - Week 09 - Thursday, 13 August 2015
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The budget provides funding that allows TAMS to improve these services, to continue some existing services and to meet the expectations of our citizens. The funding will also allow TAMS to continue to provide the services that make our city so great, like the maintenance of over 700,000 trees in our urban areas, which is certainly an important component of Canberra’s identity. This year we will see $130,000 allocated to develop a long-term strategy for ongoing funding and maintenance of urban trees. We are reaching a phase in this city’s history where many of our trees are at the end or will reach the end of their lives over the coming decades, and it is time to very carefully plan a strategy to make sure that we continue to maintain our superb urban forest.
Another item that I am particularly pleased about this year is the support for park care—something addressed in the parliamentary agreement. $691,000 has been allocated over four years for ongoing park care ranger funding to support new and existing volunteer groups and foster partnerships with school groups and correctional services. This not only provides significant environmental benefits but also helps to unleash community energy, promoting engagement and social cohesion and tapping into the desire of our community to make Canberra an even better city. It helps people to get out and be active in our natural environment, and certainly in an indirect way contributes to fitness and health.
Also supporting outdoor activity, and building on another parliamentary agreement item, is the $100,000 for new drinking fountains in high use areas. I have certainly had great feedback on the ones that have been installed over the last year or so, and I am very pleased that we are continuing to install more over the coming period. $120,000 has also been allocated for fitness equipment installation at Yerrabi district park and Eddison park. There is $185,000 for the Isaacs Ridge mountain bike trail network upgrades, which is currently out for public comment, and $230,000 over two years for Oaks Estate river corridor heritage walk improvements.
We know Canberrans take a lot of pride in the amenity of their city. Mr Coe touched on this point, and I agree with him on that. The budget invests in increased services that matter most to our community, to ensure Canberra will remain the world’s most livable city. We have allocated $8 million to allow TAMS to provide additional mowing, weed removal, tree maintenance, lake cleaning and graffiti prevention services in our suburbs. The extra mowing will include a surge mowing capacity so that high visibility and high use areas like major parks and arterial roads get an extra mow when they need it. It also includes an extra mow for the whole city. Currently we mow every suburb five times a year. Under this budget initiative we will mow them all six times.
A rolling cleaning program of the almost 440 hectares of urban lakes and ponds, such as Lake Tuggeranong and Lake Ginninderra, will be introduced. Funding will allow the additional removal of debris from within lakes and ponds as well as increased litter picking around their edges. Two more jobs will be created to clean up our lakes and ponds, which means they will be cleaned every three months rather than every six months.
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