Potholes

As everyone knows, the quality of the roads in Canberra has been steadily deteriorating.

The pothole epidemic we just went through is a result of successive years of underfunding by this Labor-Greens government. Well-funded and maintained roads are able to weather heavy rain without forming nearly as many potholes are we have seen.

Today, I joined Ms Lawder in calling on the government to fix my street. Fix my neighbours street and fix Ginninderra’s streets. As I spoke, my staff reported at least 20 potholes on Fix my Street. Almost half of these potholes were from Charnwood alone.

And for those who have had their cars damaged by potholes, the government has not made it easy to claim compensation. I related the experience of one Belconnen resident who said the process of claiming compensation was excruciating. There were so many convoluted steps and hoops to jump through that my constituent started to strongly suspect the process was intentionally designed to be so frustrating, they gave up.

Indeed, when Ms Lawder called on the government to provide clear instructions on how to claim compensation from pothole caused damage in the CBR newsletter, the government refused to.

I warned the government five years ago that this was coming. I said that “it is only a matter of time before these roads begin to fail”.

At that time, I said “numerous roads in the territory are pitted with potholes, and often, repairs to these potholes do not last”. The only difference between then and now, is the location of the potholes. It’s the same government, different pothole.

Click on the arrow to read my speech.