Each year, the ACT government spends more than half a billion dollars on services to keep Canberra’s suburbs in top shape. And it relies on revenue from rates to foot the bill. So how much bang for their buck are Canberrans getting? Well, it depends who you ask and where in the capital they live.
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00:00Good morning, Chief Minister. Thanks for answering questions.
00:05I wondered if you would consider providing a discount on rates.
00:10The footpaths around Lawson are in particularly poor shape.
00:13Have you lost touch with what ordinary Canberrans need?
00:21I live with pain every day and every night.
00:24It was here in the spring of 2021 that Stuart Poole's life changed forever.
00:30I hit some broken path and went over the handlebars and off into the grass with my bike landing
00:38on top of me. It broke my bike. It broke me.
00:42The Canbar resident isn't joking. He broke his hip and his wrist in three places.
00:49When taking legal action, Stuart discovered the dangerous path was reported months earlier.
00:55It wasn't repaired until a year later.
00:59Things that are dangerous take years to get fixed and all that time is risk to the public.
01:07Around 50,000 Fix My Street reports are made each year. Last year, the average time to
01:13resolve a request was 99 days. So far this year, the average response time is down to
01:1934 days. Tree maintenance is the biggest issue, followed by lighting and graffiti.
01:26We have over 83,000 lights across Canberra and we look after everything.
01:31Keeping Canberra well lit is Stuart Skellam's core business. He's been repairing the city's
01:37network of streetlights for more than five years.
01:41Some people really appreciate how quick we are to respond and some people wish we were
01:44a bit quicker to respond. We've got to try and keep everyone happy, but we're doing the
01:48best we can.
01:49Meet Andy English. He moved to Canberra from Sydney almost a decade ago, chasing fresh
01:56air and an easy lifestyle.
01:58I'm a keen photographer, so it's got all four seasons here. I love it.
02:03His only complaint? The poor lighting in his leafy suburb.
02:07There's got to be something better than what it is at the moment.
02:11Just weeks ago, Andy took a tumble in the dark at this intersection, while walking home
02:16with groceries.
02:17Misjudged or misstepped the gutter there and face-planted the road.
02:24Behind his smile is persistent pain.
02:26I'm still carrying a swollen ankle. I had a swollen wrist where I fell on that and captured
02:30it. I'm still living with a sore higher back and neck area.
02:36Harriet Sutton has only called Canberra home for a year. She has been stunned by the state
02:42of the suburbs.
02:43We're the nation's capital and we are a planned city and we have a wealthy population and
02:52we have an educated population and we pay the highest rates in the country. And I'm
02:59just not seeing it in the city services.
03:01From decades-old playgrounds to shabby signage, Harriet wants those in charge to lift their
03:07game.
03:08This is a beautiful place to live. It's a beautiful city. It's a growing city and we
03:12need to do better.
03:14The Territory Government spends $570 million each year on city services. That pales compared
03:21to the almost $2 billion spent on education and the near $3 billion spent on health.
03:27That, Michael De Percy says, is the challenge of having both state government and local
03:32council responsibilities.
03:35It's very difficult, I think, for ACT politicians that they have to get right down to the grassroots
03:39level, deal with issues like potholes, then at the same time focus on education and hospitals.
03:45The major advantage of the combined levels of government is the ability to raise revenue,
03:51which Michael says should mean better services for Canberrans.
03:56But is the government hitting the mark?
03:58It's an interesting question and I think one of the problems for the government is
04:02they've been in power for a very long time and governments that have been in for a long
04:05time tend to get a bit stale. Whether or not the community thinks that, we'll find out
04:09soon enough at the election.
04:12Gemma Hope is a proud Canberran and loves life in Macquarie.
04:17I love the space.
04:18It's a suburb, she says, that's well-maintained and lucky to have been part of the Food and
04:24Organics Collection trial.
04:26Thinking about the amount of food scraps that would go into your bin and that going into
04:30your FOGO drastically reduced our rubbish.
04:35Though the little black bin is getting less of a workout since Oreo arrived in April.
04:41Anything that she can't eat goes into the actual FOGO.
04:44A perk of Belconnen Living for all shapes and sizes.