I’ve got a few quick updates to share since my budget breakdown newsletter last month.
- Budget Estimates
- Shade at Playgrounds
- Getting Gambling Money Out of Politics
- Closing the Gap Legislation
- Language Education
- Pedestrian Safety in Downer
- Issues at CIT
- My Next Mobile Offices and Phone Me Friday
Budget Estimates
Two weeks of Budget Estimates hearings kick off next week, where as an Assembly we get the opportunity to scrutinise the Government’s budget papers and ask questions of Ministers and officials about government policy. I’m on the Estimates Committee this year, so I’ll be asking questions in every session.
If you’ve got any questions you’d like me to ask, please flick them through to my office at [email protected] – I’ll do my best to raise as many issues as possible during hearings, and can always lodge questions on notice thereafter as well.
I’ll aim to send through another newsletter update shortly after hearings conclude with a summary of what gets unearthed over the next fortnight.
Shade at Playgrounds
I’ve sponsored a community petition calling for evidence-based minimum shade standards for Canberra’s playgrounds.
Following an audit of playgrounds across NSW in 2022, the Cancer Institute NSW recommended a combination of built and tree shade at every playground, covering at least 70 per cent of play equipment and nearby seating.
Currently no minimum requirement of this kind exists in the ACT’s Municipal Infrastructure Standards. There’s only an obligation to ‘consider’ shade structures at some playgrounds, and specifically not to consider them at smaller playgrounds. Bizarre.
Some of our brand new playgrounds – like the otherwise-fantastic Inner North Playground on Windeyer Street in Watson – are borderline unusable in summer. On a 30-degree day, surfaces in unshaded playgrounds can reach temperatures well above 50 degrees.
Many families have raised this issue with me, and I’ve been frustrated by it myself with my kids, so I was very happy to sponsor a petition from local mum Simone who wants to see this problem addressed.
The petition calls for the ACT Government to establish evidence-based minimum shade standards for playgrounds, incorporating both built and tree shading, and to develop a plan to progressively meet these standards at both new and existing playgrounds across Canberra.
It’s already been signed by over 900 Canberrans and is backed by organisations including ACT Playgroups, Cancer Council ACT, Parents for Climate, Kidsafe ACT and Families ACT.
You can sign the petition here. It closes on 12 September 2026.
Getting Gambling Money Out of Politics
Last month, I introduced a Private Member’s Bill that seeks to ban political donations from the gambling industry.
We’ve seen the gambling lobby influence decision-making at a federal level, with a watered-down package of gambling reforms having been announced recently by the Albanese Government — reforms that aren’t evidence-based and don’t align with community expectations or with the recommendations made by a multipartisan parliamentary inquiry back in 2023. This is despite strong crossbench support for ambitious reform in this area, spearheaded by Senator David Pocock.
It’s undeniable that donations and intense lobbying from the gambling industry are having a significant impact on what’s happening federally. We can’t let this happen here in the ACT.
The Assembly’s Standing Committee on the Integrity Commission and Statutory Office Holders recently announced that an inquiry will be held into my bill. This is an important opportunity for the Assembly to hear directly from Canberrans who want to get gambling money out of politics.
Gambling industry groups and political parties are likely to provide input into the inquiry, but it’s important for the Committee to hear from everyday Canberrans too. If you have strong views on this issue, please consider making a submission. It can be as simple as sending a brief email to the Committee sharing your opinion. Instructions for how to make a submission can be found on the website for the inquiry here. Submissions close on 24 August 2026.
I’m also running a community survey on gambling reform more broadly, which will help shape my advocacy in this area moving forward. It would be fantastic if you could please take a couple of minutes to complete the survey here.
Closing the Gap Legislation
My Closing the Gap Bill came into effect on 1 July, having passed through the Assembly late last year. This makes the ACT the first state or territory to legislate its commitments under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
The legislation requires all senior ACT public servants to play their part in implementing the provisions of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, and all ACT Government agencies to report annually on the steps they’ve taken to follow through on those commitments. I’m looking forward to asking some questions during Estimates about how these requirements are being implemented.
I want to say another huge thank you to the relentless First Nations leaders, organisations and advocates who worked with me and my team on this, and fought hard to get this bill over the line.
These new laws are the result of years of advocacy from people who have never stopped pushing for change, and they have to mark a turning point for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans.
You can learn more in my media release here.
Language Education
As Chair of the Assembly’s Social Policy Committee, I appreciated hearing from students, families, teachers and advocates about the importance of language education during our recent inquiry into language learning pathways in ACT public schools.
The significant social, cultural, cognitive and career benefits of language fluency repeatedly came up throughout the inquiry. These benefits are further amplified in a diverse multicultural community like Canberra, not to mention being home to over 100 diplomatic missions and multiple Commonwealth agencies that deploy staff overseas.
Unfortunately, we don’t have clear language learning pathways in many parts of our public education system, and this was further exacerbated by the loss of a critical ATAR-level languages program last year.
It was disappointing to hear the Minister for Education say during the inquiry that language education isn’t a priority for the Government right now, just two years after they released their Language Education Action Plan.
Thank you to Frank Keighley, former head of the Canberra Academy of Languages, who first raised this issue with my office, to Jim Gilchrist who met with me to discuss his concerns after his daughter was unable to continue her French studies in Years 11-12, and to the many people who participated in the inquiry.
We made eight findings and nine recommendations. You can read the full report here, and see my video reflecting on one key finding and recommendation here.
Pedestrian Safety in Downer
Last week I sponsored a community petition about pedestrian safety issues around the Downer Community Centre.
If you’ve been to Gang Gang on a busy day, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Currently pedestrians are at risk of serious injury or worse from cars and delivery vans accessing the parking area at the back of the centre. The design of the road into the parking area doesn’t provide vehicles with good visibility at a point of high pedestrian traffic — where often children and dogs are crossing over to or from the oval — and there’s a risk this will only worsen with the opening of the new Goodwin Village next door.
The petition calls on the Government to install traffic calming measures, a pedestrian crossing and speed limit signs.
Thank you to Robyn at the Downer Community Association for preparing this petition on behalf of local residents. My office has engaged with the team at Gang Gang about this, and they’re very supportive too.
You can sign the petition here. Signatures close 31 August.
Issues at CIT
It’s now been more than 10 weeks since the CEO of CIT was found to have actively misled her Board in relation to a misconduct finding made against her by her former employer, TAFE NSW. I’ve been calling for the CEO to step down or, failing that, to be dismissed by the Board. Yet no action seems to have been taken.
I’m increasingly hearing from staff at CIT wondering what’s going on, and the broader public asking why there hasn’t been any accountability for this kind of conduct from someone on a $440,000 publicly funded salary package. At this point, I’m concerned that the Board’s apparent inaction is further undermining public confidence in CIT.
I wrote to the Board Chair about this last week, which Region covered in an article today.
My Next Mobile Offices and Phone Me Friday
My next mobile office is at Ainslie Shops on Friday 17 July (tomorrow) at 9:30-10:30am. I’ll then be at the Kingston Foreshore on Friday 7 August at 3:30-4:30pm.
My next Phone Me Friday is on 14 August at 3-4pm.
You can find all my upcoming events and RSVP here.
As always, please reach out any time on [email protected] or call on (02) 6205 1475 during office hours.
Thank you for your support,
Tom