POLITICS / signs of the times
Suddenly working for votes? CALL me cynical! The quadrennial busy-bee of minor works. Strange thing, but about this time every four years I notice a sudden rush of activity in minor capital works. Even stranger – the timing precedes an ACT election by just a few months. Footpaths, potholes, school upgrades and improved traffic control are suddenly identified as urgent. Is this expenditure of your taxpayers’ public money on electioneering? Are you grateful to the ACT (Labor/Greens) government? How many footpaths suddenly have those tell-tale paint marks around broken or rising concrete? Repairs are on the way! Indeed, some have already been done! Near PM&C in Barton is a new section of about 10 metres or so. And the signage! “The ACT Government is building a new path here to improve connections and keep Canberrans working”. What’s missing? Perhaps it is “and to improve the ACT (Labor/Greens) government’s chances in the coming election”. Roads, rates and rubbish! These have always been at the heart of winning an ACT election. The heavy rain, after so many years of drought, has exposed potholes all over Canberra’s usually pristine roads. Getting enough signs near every pothole… very challenging! “Your ACT (Labor/ Greens) Gov-
Signs designed to tell drivers that the ACT government cares. Photos: Michael Moore ernment will be fixing this pothole soon”. Can’t be done! Minister Chris Steel has the answer. There it is, on his Facebook. He was quick to reassure Canberra voters of the high priority: “Our road crews have been working long hours in the cold, repairing 80-120 potholes a day” and “over four tonnes of cold-mix asphalt and 38 tonnes of hot mix has been applied”. Education institutions are in the mix. A very minor upgrade of the Ainslie North Primary School sports a large sign identifying how lucky we are as Canberrans. It must have been hard to contain themselves from extending the reference to the ACT Labor/Greens government! There is also the big news. Just released – the Canberra Institute of Technology is going to have a new campus in Woden. The University of NSW has been consulting with residents for months and months about its new campus in Reid. The consultation included an explanation that the CIT was moving to Woden. However, this does not stop an appropriately timed announcement.
Traffic control has joined the long list of capital works that the government is doing to win us over. Erecting cheap signs in the older suburbs may not actually be capital works. But they are designed to tell drivers that the ACT (Labor/ Greens) government cares. The signs read: “Slow down. People are cycling and walking on the road”. Additionally, “Canberra Stronger Together” and “For updates visit transport.act.gov.au” Call me cynical – but lowering the speed limits to 50kp/h in our suburbs a decade ago provided a clear reminder. Let me think! Was that just before an election, or was their concern that it may be construed as a negative? Signs in Yarralumla identify a roundabout that will be replaced and the intersection “signalised”. Not a common word. However, it does exist in my 1968 “Shorter Oxford Dictionary”. The message is clear. Your (Labor/ Greens) government is doing everything it can to ensure smooth traffic flow. And, you need to know this before the election.
However, top of the list for what really concerns voters goes to (wait for it) signs for a new crematorium. Not sure when! However, there will be a new crematorium at Mitchell. A large sign tells us so! Thank you. Thank you so much ACT (Labor/Greens) government. Is there anything else the government could be doing with our taxpayers’ money? Liberal Health Shadow Minister, Vicki Dunne, has identified that children’s health is on the backburner. The answer to her “question on notice” revealed the median waiting times for some children to access specialist care was more than four years. And nearly 4000 children under the age of 16 years are waiting for an initial health appointment. But then, looking after the health of our children for the ACT (Labor/Greens) government, does not have the same visibility as a plethora of minor capital works. Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with “CityNews” since 2006.
TRAIL MIX
There’s an election coming, ready or not Political reporter BELINDA STRAHORN looks at what’s happening on the ACT election campaign and discovers… not much! IS anyone really thinking elections this year? Besides candidates mulling around shopping centres freezing their backsides off and the odd poster here and there, there’s not much happening on the ground to indicate there’s an election looming. Meanwhile, the major parties know time is slipping away. The ACT government has hit the accelerator churning out media releases spruiking their achievements, such as the two dozen new Neighbourhood Watch signs in Wright and Coombs, free music courses for public college students, new landfill gas generators to power households, the opening of a nurse-led walk in centre in Dickson and approving plans for a shiny, new $300 million Woden CIT campus that critics say won’t do anything to revitalise a sad Woden town centre. Oh, and a new tram stop in anticipation of light rail stage 2. PAID parking on weekends could be a thing of the past, if the Belco Party has anything to do with it. The party has vowed to ditch paid parking on the weekend and on weekdays after 5.30pm, if elected
in October. The party’s parking plan will see paid parking only in public car parks from 8.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday. It also proposes to reduce car and trailer rego fees helping Canberra to have the “nation’s lowest vehicle registration fees”. WHILE “Belco Bill” Stefaniak seems to lay claim to be the founding father of the Belco Party, a bit of digging reveals that the party was in fact the brainchild of two “rusted-on” Labor supporters, keen to keep a political focus on practical and grassroots issues this election. The dubbed “disrupter” party is emerging as an interesting party to watch, if anything it can claim to be the only party with a full ticket of colourful characters. AS Liberal senator for the ACT Zed Seselja pointed out in his opinion piece in “CityNews”, the Canberra Liberals have fielded one of the most diverse pools of candidates seen for a while in an ACT election, with many of the party’s candidates born overseas. Labor’s line of candidates, in comparison, appears to be plucked mostly from the public service, the unions and are less culturally diverse.
75th Anniversary of the Second World War
Commemorating our WWII Veterans
Thank you to all of Canberra’s WWII veterans and their families. Your service and sacrifice will never be forgotten. To mark the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, commemorative medallions and certificates of commemoration are available for veterans of the Second World War. If you or a loved one would appreciate receiving a certificate and a medallion, please contact my office on 6247 8475 or by email at alicia.payne.mp@aph.gov.au
Tel: 1300 372 300
act79.football@sportstaracademy.com
ALICIA PAYNE MP - MEMBER FOR CANBERRA Authorised by Alicia Payne MP, Member for Canberra. 221 London Circuit, Canberra ACT 2601.
CityNews September 3-9, 2020 9
