The infamous shade-less shade structure on Cavenagh Street is costing taxpayers $90,000 a year, and is six-times the cost since 2021.
Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics Gerard Maley said written questions to the government uncovered monthly maintenance of the vine costs taxpayers $90,000 per year.
The answer also revealed that expenditure on the vine for the 2022-2023 financial year to date was $48,303 and is expected to be an eye-watering $100,000 per year over the next 12 and 24 months.
The previous financial year was $13,370.
“Not only has this been a huge waste of taxpayer money from the get go, but the vine itself has been a complete failure and it’s taken the Minister since May 2022 to decide on an alternative vine to plant instead, yet there’s still no clear answer on what this government is going to do,” he said.
“How maintenance of this vine has increased six-fold since 2021 is laughable, when the vine is lucky to have reached the top since its planting.”
Mr Maley said it was also inexcusable that the Minister couldn’t answer simple questions about when the additional cooling and shading works throughout Darwin would be completed.
“Redirecting that question to another Minister is not good enough, the Minister for planning and infrastructure should know the answer about infrastructure and planning in her own city,” he said.
“If the Fyles Labor government can’t pull off a simple vine project, how can we trust them to run major projects like sealing the Tanami Highway and getting Middle Arm up and running? “This Gunner-Fyles Labor government has proven time and time again that their incompetence is out of control, and cannot be trusted with the future of the Territory, let alone a simple vine.”
ENDS