Shadow Minister for Water Nicole Lawder has been left dismayed after questions regarding the maintenance of water assets such as the floating wetlands in Lake Tuggeranong went unanswered in Annual Reports Hearings for the second day in a row.

Despite being told by the Minister for Water yesterday the floating wetlands were the responsibility of TCCS, the City Services Minister and his officials were unsure if they were responsible for the maintenance of these expensive assets when questioned today.

Ms Lawder said following recent rain, the floating wetlands have fallen apart and are spreading debris throughout Lake Tuggeranong.

“This is the second time I have raised with the government that the floating wetlands have been damaged and are scattering debris throughout Lake Tuggeranong,” Shadow Minister for Water Nicole Lawder said.

“It makes you seriously question what sort of maintenance, if any, the Labor-Greens government is undertaking on our water quality assets.

“This government is spending millions of ratepayers’ dollars on installing these assets and they love to announce them with much fanfare and pats on the back for themselves.

“Yet they are continuing to fail to maintain and inspect these assets to the point that they are deteriorating and just adding to the problem of poor water quality in the lake.

“The same issues continue to rise with the Labor-Greens government’s approach to improving water quality in our lakes and waterways. A failure to communicate between the responsible directorates and a failure to maintain and measure the impact of these assets.

“How many times do assets including the floating wetlands, that cost millions of dollars to install, have to be broken and reported to the government before they start proactively and adequately maintaining them?” Ms Lawder concluded.