Sam Nugent, a Greens candidate for Brindabella, knows what it's like to trip and fall on a dodgy footpath in Canberra.
"I kicked my foot and I fell forward, smashing my face against the pavement, giving me a black eye, a small fracture and the scar that you see on my forehead," Ms Nugent said of the time she fell on a wobbly tiled paver in Braddon.
"And of course, that's concussion. It has to be investigated. And as a person that has health issues, that takes longer in the hospital for them to do the adequate scanning, and that costs money as well."
The Greens want the ACT government to spend $20 million a year on new paths and connections and increase the annual maintenance budget to $15 million a year, up from the current spend between $5 million and $6.5 million annually.
The party also wants to cut the maintenance wait time from 18 months or more to a set timeframe of six months.
Ms Nugent said voters had frequently raised the issue of poor path maintenance in the capital.
"Someone recently said to me directly that they feel scared to leave the house as a person with disability because of the damage on the path outside their home," she said.
Poorly maintained paths can damage mobility aids, wheelchairs and other supportive equipment which deprives people of independence and can increase the costs for people seeking to live a normal life, the candidate said.
Ms Nugent said footpath maintenance issues seemed to be worsening across all electorates and suburbs and the investment wanted by the Greens would significantly get through the backlog of maintenance work.
"We know it doesn't come cheap. We have to make a big announcement and a big investment in this, given the extent of damage that's happened for this long," she said.
Ms Nugent said she hoped people would see the investment in paths as a way to prevent higher medical costs down the line.
"I would like to see that because the more people with disability who have independence, the more they can contribute not just to the community but to the economy," she said.
Greens leader Shane Rattenbury said investment in footpaths had not been a priority for the government, despite the best efforts of the party he led.
"We know that our current network is missing vital connections across all parts of Canberra and we know that the maintenance program is not sufficiently funded," Mr Rattenbury said.
"The ACT Greens plan will make footpaths a priority and make walking and cycling a genuine option for more Canberrans."
The ACT budget this year included $5.81 million over four years to employ a crew of 10 full-time workers and buy equipment to speed up footpath repairs.
More than $1.4 million will be spent in 2024-25 to complete missing path links, the government said in June.
Jo Clay, the Greens member for Ginninderra, said path maintenance had been partially insourced "at along last".
"But this is a core public service and the work and should be delivered quickly and routinely by public employees," Ms Clay said.
