Canberrans powerless in the face of costly stuff-ups

The tendency of any of the above to circle the wagons, protect themselves and their profits, shareholders or public image, can mean that the ordinary customer can fast become a victim.

Regrettably we have seen this quite a lot in Canberra in recent weeks. Powerless, in some cases literally, people have been left out of pocket and inconvenienced by stuff-ups or mini disasters completely beyond their control.

Think of the people living on Lowrie Street in Dickson. Already having to make peace with a large development going up in the block behind them, last October the backyards of three homes spectacularly fell away when the construction pit collapsed.

What remains of their yards are fenced off and a generator is running day and night to supply power to two of the homes cut off from power. Bad enough, but what's worse has been the six-month delay in the developer, Art Group, giving them a repair deadline or offer of compensation.

They've been told to make claims through the public liability insurance of the earthworks company. Residents doubt that will lead to them being compensated fairly for the inconvenience of this saga.

Or think about the people living in three streets in Farrer whose power appliances were wrecked by a massive power surge in January. In speaking to The Canberra Times this week they described a huge bang, light globes exploding and smoke coming out of TVs. Air-conditioning systems were dead at the height of summer.

One would have expected the electricity grid operator, Evoenergy, would have swiftly offered to replace the damaged appliances. Instead, they've been told they may only get the depreciated value of appliances, meaning a previously working 10-year-old fridge or airconditioner is valued at almost nothing.

"Abysmal" and "terribly unfair", is how residents have described the response of the company, which is part owned by the ACT government.

The company has also sought to gag residents by asking them to sign non-disclosure agreements at the point they receive any compensation. Belatedly, hands are being smacked now, with the Chief Minister and Energy Minister joining backbencher Marisa Paterson to demand better treatment of these affected residents.

In both of these cases, people going about their lives have been caught up in some catastrophe whose cause is certainly not their making. And for the most part they've been offered the bare minimum in support.

What these situations have in common isn't just the way residents' enjoyment of their homes has been badly affected. In both, it's clear the companies have been too slow to act and have offered too little help.

While the government's intervention this week, three months on, should at least see some positive action in Farrer, questions need to be asked about why it has taken that.

In the case of the Dickson pit, concerns need to be addressed about the regulation of construction sites, and the speed and effectiveness of the investigations into failures.

This is not the only collapse of this sort to have happened in recent times. In August last year a retaining wall collapsed at a construction site in Phillip. Worksafe investigations into both are still incomplete.

Answers are still needed, remedies and proper compensation need to be put forward.

In the meantime, ordinary Canberrans are stuck with the worry, the expense and the huge inconvenience.