THE Liberals’ Andrew Wall is up in arms over mowing contracts being awarded to out of state companies.

“The ACT Labor/Green government’s decision to ditch ACT businesses in favour of an interstate operator for Canberra’s mowing contract should be condemned,” Andrew said.

“The ACT/Labor government has recently awarded the mowing contract for the ACT to ‘Citywide’, a wholly owned subsidiary of Melbourne City Council. These contracts were previously tendered to ACT businesses.

“Every time jobs and employment opportunities get taken away from ACT operators and employees, it’s another move in the wrong direction for the ACT’s economy.

“To add insult to injury, Citywide have been contracted by the government before, only to be moved on because it couldn’t do the job for the agreed price.

“Value for money is one thing but the value to the ACT economy by awarding contracts locally must be taken into consideration.

“This is an appalling decision made by the current ACT government. If Andrew Barr is serious about local business and local jobs, he should now take a serious look at how much money is leaving Canberra unnecessarily to interstate and overseas contractors,” Mr Wall concluded.