Hopefully you’re enjoying a rejuvenating Easter long weekend. I’m certainly making the most of the down time with my family, and of the beautiful weather we’ve had here in Canberra.
There was plenty to report on coming out of the early April sitting week, and from inquiry hearings during the week just gone.
Oaks Estate, Established 1836
Sitting on the border with NSW on the way out to Queanbeyan, Oaks Estate is, I believe, the poorest suburb in the ACT.
This is an sad tale of neglect considering the history of the area, originally treasured as a place for the Ngunnawal people, and other First Nations people from surrounding areas, to feast during bogong moth season and host corroborees.
Seen as lush pastoral land, it was attractive to a number of graziers and some farms emerged as European settlers discovered the area. When the Territory was established, there was debate – that was to continue for decades – about whether it should form part of NSW or the ACT.
Now it’s home to what’s very likely our most disadvantaged community. Almost half of the dwellings in Oaks Estate are public housing, whereas the usual maximum in other suburbs is 15 per cent. Cut off from public transport and other services with residents vulnerable to attacks from roaming dogs, and witnessing very public and very frequent drug dealing, consumption and related violence, the people of Oaks Estate have been consistently ignored. The buck seems to have been passed almost entirely from the ACT Government to Queanbeyan.
I’ve visited the neighbourhood a couple of times and have been seriously concerned by what I’ve seen and the shocking stories recounted by the people I’ve spoken with. Recent reports of attacks with a hammer and a samurai sword are alarming, to say the least.
Residents have been calling for help for years on end, and have now reached breaking point. After a letter from the local residents’ association, I visited Oaks Estate for a chat about what’s been happening and what’s next. After learning that fellow Kurrajong reps Shane Rattenbury, leader of the Greens, and Elizabeth Lee from the Canberra Liberals had done the same, I reached out to see if we could advocate for change together. They agreed and we worked up a co-sponsored motion calling for a five-year strategic plan to revitalise Oaks Estate and address residents’ concerns with short-term, medium-term and long-term actions.
I look forward to seeing the motion debated and passed. This is a human issue, not a political one, so I was glad to be part of a multipartisan call that’s already given residents some hope that positive change is possible. A big thank you to Mr Rattenbury and Ms Lee for being so forthcoming and collaborative in working together on this. Hopefully Labor get on board too.
MyWay+ Fail
I’m still shaking my head about the MyWay+ ticketing system’s failure on accessibility, particularly for community members with vision impairment.
It should be fundamental to any aspect of the design of public transport that it serves the needs of the greatest number of people and, in particular, those most reliant on public transport. Of course, people with disability often have very few viable transport options, and may depend almost entirely on public transport.
We learned that the new MyWay+ system, particularly its online aspects, aren’t fully accessible for people with disability and won’t be for another six months. I’ve since asked the Transport Minister, both in writing and in the Chamber, whether the ACT Government has broken the law with the roll-out of MyWay+ but he keeps dodging the question.
Accessibility can’t be an afterthought, least of all for a government that recently introduced a new Disability Inclusion Act and 10-year disability strategy. On my read, this is a clear violation of several different pieces of anti-discrimination legislation at both the Commonwealth and Territory levels. Whether or not it’s the MyWay+ contractor’s fault, the Government has seriously dropped the ball on this, and a six-month timeline for implementing fixes simply isn’t good enough. I’ve referred the issue to the ACT Human Rights Commission for further investigation.
Ainslie Volcanics Telecommunications Tower
I spoke in the Assembly in support of a Greens’ bill to protect the Ainslie Volcanics Grasslands. These grasslands are home to threatened species like the Golden Sun Moth, and have been a focus for local volunteers who have dedicated years of their time and energy to preserving and restoring this important ecological site.
The ACT Government provided thousands of dollars in grants supporting these volunteers, only to turn around and approve the construction of a 28-metre-tall mobile phone tower on the same site! That approval should never have happened – an example of careless, siloed government decision-making processes. So I’ve been backing community calls for the proposed tower to be relocated to a nearby site that isn’t environmentally sensitive and hasn’t been actively cultivated by volunteers. The Greens’ bill would have blocked the development, forcing its relocation.
Having plenty of firsthand experience with some of the phone signal black spots in Kurrajong, I am in full support of better telecommunications in and around Ainslie. But these necessary improvements should not cause unnecessary environmental damage.
Credit to the Greens for their efforts on the back of a clause in their supply-and-confidence agreement with Labor committing to protect this site. Unfortunately, the bill was voted down by the two major parties, despite support from the entire crossbench. The whole thing has been pretty sad, really – a failure of process, of foresight, and of priorities.
Eddies – A Community Rocked
As an old boy of St Edmund’s College, here in the heart of our electorate, I was shaken by the news that two students, Aaron and Aiden, had been struck by an allegedly stolen, speeding car on their way to school.
What should have been a regular morning turned into something unimaginably traumatic, with a long road of physical and emotional recovery now ahead of them. The incident rocked the school, and our community more broadly.
What’s struck with me has been the incredible demonstration of solidarity that’s followed. The outpouring of support from across the ACT has been remarkable. Other schools have provided their counsellors to students, families and teachers at Eddies who’ve been affected by the incident. I’ve been in regular contact with the school principal and am told the boys are recovering well with plenty of support around them.
Every child should be able to walk, ride or catch the bus to school with their mates, without fear. I’ve engaged with the relevant minister’s office about safety around the school, and received a briefing on options that are under consideration. I can’t see why a 40km/hr zone and a signalised crossing on Canberra Avenue should be impossible, especially given similar measures on Northbourne Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue.
You can watch the speech I gave about the accident here.
Dropping Suicide Rate
The 2024 Life in Mind Report shows that the ACT now has the lowest rate of suicide in Australia, having fallen by 44 per cent from 2021 to 2023.
As I said in a speech in the Assembly, this decline is a testament to the tireless work of our mental health professionals, the willingness of Canberrans to chat with their mates about how they’re tracking, the relentless efforts of people working in our community sector, the positive impact of government initiatives aimed at early intervention and crisis support, and growing community-building initiatives like Running for Resilience, whose goal is to make Canberra suicide-free by 2033.
I’m keen to see us take this positive step forward as motivation to continue improving access to care, reducing stigma, taking a holistic view of wellbeing, and making mental health a real priority.
Who says we can’t create a suicide-free Canberra where every person feels supported, valued, and hopeful for the future?
Lifeline - 13 11 14
13YARN - 13 92 76
When Everyone Becomes a Transparency Warrior
Many of the people who voted for me told me they were voting for greater transparency and accountability. It’s one of the key reasons people choose to support independents.
It was both surprising and encouraging to see the Chief Minister join the growing calls for transparency with a motion in the last sitting week. Most of us in the Assembly saw it as a response to several recent motions demanding the release of various different documents and criticising opaque government decision-making processes. I described the Chief Minister’s motion as an act of retaliatory transparency.
The Chief Minister’s motion called for the regular publication of the diaries, work-related travel logs and staffing expenditure of non-executive members – those of us who are not ministers. The motion upset some, but I had no issue with it. I haven’t travelled since the election and would be happy to publish my diary. Staffing expenditure caps are already publicly available.
The Chamber, for a moment, was fizzing with the energy closer to what we see in a robust Question Time up on the Hill. Members were vocal and animated, trading not just arguments but also wry asides and theatrical flourishes. The Speaker stepped back to a seat in the Chamber to add his comments with dramatic flair. Transparency, it turns out, can be quite the crowd-pleaser!
I’m hopeful that this engaged discussion, and particularly the Chief Minister’s role in it, means we’ll see stronger support for transparency moving forward. That was certainly the tone of my remarks during the debate. You can find out more about how things unfolded by reading my voting record entry for the motion here.
Rent Relief Fund Scrapped
The Government’s decision to discontinue funding for the Rent Relief Fund in the upcoming budget is deeply concerning. At a time when Canberrans continue to grapple with soaring living costs, this move will leave many without a crucial safety net.
This program has been a lifeline for many, providing the emergency relief needed to retain a roof over their head if they hit a hurdle that might otherwise see them evicted. It’s strictly means tested, reserved for people experiencing serious financial hardship. I could barely believe it when Care ACT, the organisation that administers the program, told me they’d been informed not to bother including the Rent Relief Fund in their pre-budget submission because the decision had already been made to wind it up.
To withdraw it now, without putting viable alternatives in place, risks pushing vulnerable people closer to homelessness. I raised this issue during Question Time, asking whether the Government had considered the likely impact this decision would have on our already-shocking social housing waitlists. The response I got in the Chamber was not encouraging, confirming that the program will be discontinued without any replacement. This decision strikes me as callous and incredibly short-sighted, overlooking the harsh reality for renters who are already stretched to breaking point.
I’ll continue pushing for stronger support measures that put people first. The cost-of-living crisis isn’t going away, and neither should the programs that help people survive it. I understand the Government has serious budget issues but this is not the place to make a cut.
Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
While some states and territories are taking the shocking populist step of lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility, despite all the evidence and obvious moral arguments that this is a terrible idea, the ACT has committed to raising it to 14 years on 1 July this year. This follows 31 United Nations member states calling on Australia to raise the age, and brings the ACT in line with recommendations from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to establish 14 years as the minimum age of criminal responsibility.
Children should be in school and surrounded by a loving family. Where that’s not the case, it’s on us to step up as a community, with sufficient government investment, to provide them with the support they need to thrive. Incarceration should only everoccur as a very last resort, when all other options have been exhausted.
The Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 clarifies police powers related to the impending increase to the minimum age of criminal responsibility, and was passed despite opposition from the Liberals who argued we should press pause on raising the age. While I am sympathetic to their claim that insufficient support measures are in place – I’ve repeatedly called for greater investment in the preventative and rehabilitative work of organisations like Canberra PCYC, who currently have 500 children on their waitlist – incarcerating more children is not a position I support. Locking up kids contradicts the advice of legal, medical, and psychological experts, who have long identified that incarcerated children are being punished for behaviours explained by their immaturity, disability, trauma, and reduced capacity to anticipate the consequences of their actions. It’s important to note that children aged 12 and 13 will still be held criminally responsible for the most serious of charges, including murder, intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm, sexual assault in the first degree, and acts of indecency in the first degree.
Tackling Crime Without Harming Communities
On the topic of crime, the Canberra Liberals brought a motion to the Assembly calling for the introduction of anti-consorting laws in the ACT. These laws would criminalise the act of associating with criminal groups, like bikie gangs.
Canberra has become a preferred meeting place for outlaw bikie gangs, and that brings some concern. Unlike other states and territories, the ACT lacks anti-consorting laws, making it a target location in which these groups can gather. Significant police resources are being redirected to monitor these gatherings, at a time when many people are calling for an increased community policing presence in places like Oaks Estate and Civic, and at Dickson Shops and Watson Shops. With limited resources and police officers reporting being constantly stretched, we must ensure local policing activities are as effective and efficient as possible. I can’t see the benefit in having outlaw bikie gangs from interstate choosing Canberra as their meeting place.
But we also need to tread very carefully when it comes to criminalising who associates with whom. While the intent of anti-consorting laws is to disrupt serious organised crime, their real-world impact in other jurisdictions has raised serious concerns. A review by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission in NSW found that these laws have disproportionately affected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and have been used for such purposes as targeting young people drinking in parks or people getting coffee together after attending methadone clinics. There’s also some indication that the laws just send organised criminal activity further underground, rather than actually preventing them. These are not the outcomes we should be striving for.
The Assembly has a responsibility to prioritise community safety while also ensuring we don’t further entrench vulnerable people in cycles of disadvantage. I won’t support laws that have done more harm than good elsewhere, but I remain committed to finding solutions that work for our community. In my remarks, I indicated that if there is a sensible way forward with narrowly targeted, carefully drafted legislation that can deter outlaw bikie gangs from travelling to gather here under resource-intensive police monitoring, and can do so without criminalising marginalised Canberrans, I would be open to working on that.
Burrangiri Respite Centre
Fellow independent Fiona Carrick tabled a petition with some 1,500 signatures in an effort to prevent the closure of the Burrangiri Respite Centre in Rivett. As this centre is in Ms Carrick’s electorate, she has been leading the effort. Following repeated assertions from the Health Minister that part of the reason the centre is being closed is because aged care and respite is a federal responsibility, Senator David Pocock is calling for the Federal Government to step in with funding to keep the centre open.
I was keen to add my voice, particularly following revelations that Burrangiri accounts for more than half of the respite beds in the ACT. The Greens and Canberra Liberals have backed the push for Burrangiri to remain open too, with the Assembly passing a motion in March supported by everyone except Labor calling on the Government to keep it open until an alternative was in place. But that motion was ignored by the Health Minister, which she’s technically able to do, giving extra impetus to this petition.
The petition was tabled with a strong presence of people who’ve relied on this facility watching on from the Gallery. It’s always pleasing to see members of the public in the Chamber, listening to the matters being raised and debated by their elected representatives. But there was something deeply concerning about people in need of respite – and the vulnerable people they care for – being compelled to have to find the strength to mount a campaign to try to keep their centre from closing.
Unfortunately, Burrangiri’s future doesn’t look promising as the Health Minister has been holding the line on her decision to close it down at the end of the financial year.
Establishing An Urban Growth Boundary
A modern capital city with bush and river boundaries that are easily reached with a short journey is a real treasure, and one that’s threatened by endless urban sprawl. So I was glad to see the ACT Greens’ environmental spokesperson, Jo Clay MLA, bring a motion calling for the establishment of an urban growth boundary in this term of government. The motion was negotiated with Labor prior to its introduction and passed with the support of the crossbench, despite opposition from the Liberals.
It’s on us in the Assembly to have hard conversations in the Chamber about the Canberra we want for future generations. I see it as our shared responsibility as elected representatives to lift our gaze, look beyond the election cycle, and make decisions that set our community up for the future.
Despite the short-term imperative to continue releasing public land for sale and developing at growing distances from the CBD, a long-term perspective pulls us away from permitting endless sprawl and toward prioritising conservation opportunities on the outskirts of our current urban footprint instead.
Enjoying a cold early morning dip in the Murrumbidgee
I strongly believe we can develop the housing and infrastructure our community urgently needs and preserve the incredible ecological diversity of our natural environment. Setting an urban growth boundary or ‘city limit’, beyond which no further development will occur, presents a clear pathway toward achieving these dual outcomes. It also encourages filling out the missing middle in our housing mix – the townhouses, terraces, duplexes and low-rise apartments that can help us sensibly and sustainably densify the central suburbs of our city.
We can get this right by carrying out that gentle densification in a way that builds cohesive communities around our local shops and parks, preserves the leafiness of our established suburbs, and encourages more people to get out of their cars and onto their feet, bikes and public transport. We know that greenfield developments cost up to five times more than infill, so this approach also makes good economic sense.
I was very happy to see the motion get up, with a firm commitment made to legislate this new urban growth boundary by 2027. Now we just need to make sure it’s established in the right place, and there’ll be a lot of work going into that with updates provided along the way – and plenty of debate in the Assembly, I’m sure – about how to get the balance right on this.
Insurance Inquiry
Having run a small business for seven years before becoming an MLA, I know the impact that the ACT’s disproportionately high – and rising – insurance premiums are having on our small business community. Ultimately those costs tend to get passed onto customers, which is one of the reasons everything seems to cost more in Canberra. I’ve also heard from volunteer groups, members of our community sector, people living under strata title and community sport organisations about just how much increasing insurance costs are affecting them and the financial viability of their activities.
Premiums for various different insurances are higher here than anywhere else in the country, which is why I negotiated a commitment in my supply-and-confidence agreement with the Government to an inquiry into insurance costs in the ACT. As a member of the Standing Committee on Economics, Industry and Recreation that’s now carrying out this inquiry, I’ve learned a lot from all the submissions that have come in from a wide range of different organisations and individuals, and through the two days of hearings we undertook this week.
From a domestic violence crisis organisation that’s had to let three staff go as a direct consequence of rising insurance costs, to businesses whose premiums have doubled or tripled because of liability claims that were later dropped, to group training organisations who can’t operate sustainably here because our workers’ compensation premiums for apprentices are more than 1000% higher than over the border in NSW – we heard some pretty alarming evidence about the breadth and depth of the impact of high insurance premiums across our community.
The ACT has Australia’s highest workers’ compensation premiums in 14 of 19 industries. We heard from the insurers that this is because we’re the only jurisdiction without any caps on personal injury claims or on the legal damages that can be awarded through such claims. While I’m supportive of a generous scheme that ensures workers who get hurt on the job are fairly compensated, I also think we need to strike a balance here. The uncapped nature of our legislation means that insurers need to set prices based on unprecedentedly high hypothetical liability claims, which doesn’t help anyone.
We also heard a lot of evidence about allegedly vexatious claims, and the difficulty that employers have in actually telling their side of the story. I have to say that the no-win-no-fee legal services that encourage people to bring forward claims, even if they’re not entirely legitimate, strike me as problematic. Many witnesses agreed. The lawyers very strongly disagreed, which only further set off the alarm bells for me!
I don’t think we want to follow places like the United States in becoming a highly litigious society. I’d prefer to see fair arrangements with reasonable compensation for demonstrable negligence, poor practice and even bad luck that leads to harm. But if people feel encouraged and incentivised to bring forward spurious public liability, medical liability or workers’ compensation claims, with no consequences for rolling the dice on a dodgy claim, I think that’s a problem – especially if it significantly increases our premiums, which ultimately increases the cost of living for everyone.
Given everything we heard, and our high premiums compared to other states and territories, I’m not convinced that we have the balance right at the moment. I’m now working on some recommendations that the evidence suggests would make a positive difference without negatively impacting people’s right to fair compensation. I’ll take those to fellow committee members and they’ll propose their own before we nut out agreement on recommended reforms for the Government to – hopefully – implement.
I’m Hiring!
I’m on the hunt for a communications and policy adviser. If you know anyone with relevant experience who’s keen to work in a fast-paced environment as part of a small, passionate, agile team, please direct them here. Applications close 30 April.
What’s Coming Up
After the Easter and ANZAC Day holidays, we’ve got one more week before two consecutive sitting weeks in early May. We’ll continue working on a couple of policy pieces that I’m excited to share with you soon, as well as chasing up individual issues on behalf of local community members. There’s plenty to pry into, and plenty of people to meet and glean insights from, so we’re never short of things to do!
Of course, I’ll also be watching on to see what the upcoming federal election has in store for independents. I’ve got my fingers crossed for a minority government that’s forced to negotiate with a strong crossbench of principled independents whose sensible concerns can no longer be ignored.
If you’re around next week, I’ll be at Ainslie Shops for a mobile office on Tuesday from 4.30pm to 5.30pm. Come say g’day and let me know what you’d like to see me focus on. Alternatively, you can reach out any time via [email protected] or 6205 1475.
Thank you for your interest in the work of my office (and for making it all the way to the end of this lengthy update!).