Last week was the first sitting week for 2026. It’s been great to get back into the swing of things, speaking on a range of topics, tabling petitions, attending events and meeting with community members.
A highlight was the 2026 Capital Region Showcase up at Parliament House on Tuesday night, where local businesses and many of our national cultural institutions shared some of what our region has to be proud of. Thank you to Senator David Pocock and David Smith MP for co-hosting the event and inviting me along.
I hope that, like me, you got some time over the weekend to enjoy the National Multicultural Festival, which I think really shows Canberra at its absolute best.
- Transparency in the Early Childhood Sector
- Canberra Aquatic Centre
- Hume Circle Petition
- A Long-Term Community Sport Infrastructure Plan
- Cultural Safety in the ACT Public Service
- Phone Me Friday
- My Next Mobile Office
Transparency in the Early Childhood Sector
Last Wednesday, I welcomed a statement in the Assembly from the Minister for Education and Early Childhood on child safety in early childhood education and care centres.
In my remarks responding to the Minister’s statement, I pointed out that just three months ago, she had claimed that “we have a robust and comprehensive regulatory system.” That was when only the ACT Government had access to the almost 2,500 documents that have now been released which reveal deeply concerning gaps in our regulatory system that have put children at risk. The Minister has now signalled reforms including a review of educator-to-child ratios, which marks an encouraging change in tune. I guess that’s the power of transparency.
You can watch my speech here, and learn more in this Canberra Times story here.
Canberra Aquatic Centre
I was livid when the ACT Government announced the new aquatic facility in Commonwealth Park, which will replace Civic Pool, would not contain a dive pool. Surely a like-for-like replacement is the absolute bare minimum, particularly given the $138 million price tag for the project. The recently opened Adelaide Aquatic Centre cost $135 million and includes significantly more facilities than what’s being proposed for our new Canberra Aquatic Centre, which is a bit hard to swallow.
The Government has been saying they’ll investigate constructing new diving facilities elsewhere. Last Wednesday, I asked the Chief Minister during Question Time whether the Government would commit to building a new deep dive pool before the Canberra Olympic Pool was demolished. Unfortunately, he would not make that commitment. Any period of time where the ACT does not have any competition-level diving facilities would be disastrous for multiple aquatic sports, and completely unacceptable in my view.
So I’ve sponsored a petition from Ann Widdup at the Canberra Diving Academy calling for the Government to change its approach and commit to including a deep-water dive pool in the new Commonwealth Park aquatic centre. You can sign the petition here and learn more in this Canberra Times story here.
Hume Circle Petition
I tabled a (now closed) petition last Thursday regarding the recently released National Capital Plan Draft Amendment 102, which would create a ‘Hume Circle Precinct’ under the planning authority of the National Capital Authority, and upzone the area for development. Credit to Kimberley Scott who mobilised community members and managed to gather over 600 signatures in just a week.
When tabling the petition in the Assembly, I spoke in support of the petition’s calls for an extended consultation period, after consultation had been scheduled over the summer break when many residents were away holidaying and schools that will be affected by the change, St Clare’s College and St Edmund’s College, were closed. We were joined in the Chamber by residents from Griffith’s Staffordshire Terrace, which is set to be rezoned under Draft Amendment 102 – against the residents’ wishes and despite the fact that their existing complex represents a great example of the ‘missing middle’ housing that the ACT Government is committed to building more of.
10 days prior to tabling the petition, I also wrote to the relevant federal minister, Kristy McBain MP, requesting that the consultation period be extended, which the National Capital Authority has now done.
You can learn more about the National Capital Authority Draft Amendment here.
A Long-Term Community Sport Infrastructure Plan
The Canberra Liberals moved a motion in the Assembly last week calling on the ACT Government to commission an independent audit of all community sporting facilities in the ACT. While I was glad to speak in support of the motion, I’m not convinced an independent audit is what’s actually needed – I would expect Sport and Recreation within the ACT Government to have the capability to perform such an audit themselves.
I have heard repeatedly from local sporting organisations about the lack of facilities and how many critical facilities in Kurrajong urgently need upgrades, including Kingston Oval and Southwell Park. It also strikes me as short-sighted that our health system is under such immense pressure while some major sports have waitlists due to the lack of facilities across the ACT. I think it’s time to connect the dots and invest further upstream in things like community sport to support positive health outcomes for Canberrans long before hospitals get involved.
My supply-and-confidence agreement includes a commitment to long-term community sport infrastructure planning, which I’ve been asking questions about during budget hearings. I’ll continue pushing the Government to deliver on that commitment, and hopefully this motion from the Opposition is also a positive step in that direction.
Cultural Safety in the ACT Public Service
New data from the 2025 ACT Public Service (ACTPS) Employee Survey reveals 41 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ACT public servants do not feel culturally safe in their workplace.
These disappointing figures show the ACT Government has a huge amount of work to do on cultural capability, cultural safety and addressing systemic discrimination – all of which it committed to doing more than five years ago when it signed the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. Significantly increasing accountability with respect to this commitments is the purpose of my Closing the Gap Bill, which passed through the Assembly in December and comes into effect this July.
During a public hearing for the inquiry into my bill last October, the then-head of the ACT Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Brendan Moyle, revealed that his workplace was the least culturally safe he had ever encountered. Mr Moyle resigned from his role less than a month after making that disclosure.
Following these revelations, I submitted a freedom of information request seeking access to information about cultural safety concerns raised within the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs. Alarmingly, the documents reveal Mr Moyle had raised significant concerns internally for years that there was a “lack of cultural capability and cultural safety” within the ACTPS, as well as making serious allegations of directorates demonstrating a “lack of internal commitment to deliver on ACT Government commitments,” including the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, and that key bodies of work were even being blocked by certain parts of government.
Frankly, I find it shameful that the ACT Government has continually failed to follow through on its commitments to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans. I’ll continue raising questions in the Assembly about what the Government is doing to turn things around.
You can learn more in my media release here.
Phone Me Friday
I’ll be picking up the office phone tomorrow Friday 13 February from 11am to 12pm. Give me a 5-minute call on 02 6205 1475 to let me know your concerns, or to chat about what I’ve been up to in the Assembly and out in our community.
My Next Mobile Office
My next mobile office is at Capital Brewing Co (Dairy Road) in Fyshwick from 3:30 - 4:30pm next Friday 20 February. If you’re available, please come along for a chat and let me know how I can better represent you in the Assembly. You can RSVP here.
Remember you can also keep up to date along the way, and share what I’m up to across your networks, through my social media accounts – see my signature block below for links.
Thank you for your support.
Tom