Municipal Services Minister Meegan Fitzharris says she is confident her directorate can overcome what the opposition has described as an "extreme loss of corporate knowledge" in recent months.
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Four senior executives have recently left the Territory and Municipal Services Directorate, which merged with the Capital Metro agency this year.
The latest executive to leave was Paul Peters, the executive director of roads and infrastructure. He gave notice of his resignation this month and went on leave the same day. The nature of Mr Peters' leave is unclear.
The directorate also lost Phillip Perram, executive director of parks and territory services, and Kim Smith, executive director of corporate and business enterprises, as well as its director of governance.
The issue was raised by the opposition during an estimates hearing in the ACT Legislative Assembly on Monday morning.
Shadow Transport Minister Alistair Coe asked whether the minister was concerned about the loss of experience and knowledge within her directorate.
"Are you worried about the extreme loss of corporate knowledge that's walked out the door in the last fortnight or month?" Mr Coe asked.
Ms Fitzharris responded:
"No, I'm not. It's obviously an impact but I'm very confident in the leadership and the management and all the staff in the new directorate to deliver the services that they have been delivering for many years, and that they will continue to deliver."
Mr Coe said he was receiving reports that the morale of the directorate was toxic, and that staff felt as though they were being taken over by Capital Metro.
Ms Fitzharris rejected that as an interpretation that suited the opposition.
"I think that's your interpretation and I think that's what you want to hear," she said.
From July, TAMS will become Transport Canberra and City Services, a product of the Capital Metro merger.
Capital Metro head Emma Thomas will be the director-general of the new body.
The government had initially planned to set up a new transport agency, merging Capital Metro and ACTION buses, but abandoned that concept.
The directorate has assured the community there will be no changes to services, and no overall job losses.
The opposition fears that the amalgamation would see a focus on light rail at the expense of city services.
But Ms Fitzharris said on Monday that the new directorate would continue to invest in city services in Canberra, something she knew was important to the community.
"It is very clear from this government, that this new directorate has a focus on Transport Canberra and City Services," she said.
"There's significant investment in city services in this budget, in playgrounds, in green waste bins, in more mowing, in more weeding, in significant upgrades to our shopping centres."
