Page 4006 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 1 December 2021
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sector and a plan to tackle disadvantage. We passed a motion strengthening rights to protest and improved access to civics education for young people. We passed a motion securing more funding and more supports for Canberra’s not-for-profit community sector, in response to advocacy from ACTCOSS.
We elevated the conversation around making drugs like MDMA and psilocybin more readily available for the treatment of mental health ailments like PTSD and anxiety. I have consistently supported Canberra’s sexuality and gender-diverse community with speeches and representations, and I was pleased to host an event here for International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.
I have worked across this Assembly to secure funding for a full revitalisation of the Lake Tuggeranong foreshore. I joined with my colleague, Shane Rattenbury, as the minister for water, to launch three new floating wetlands in Lake Tuggeranong that were designed to reduce blue-green algal blooms. I was pleased to sponsor a petition from my constituents in Gordon who were concerned about speeding and antisocial driving in suburban streets. We helped secure funding for a pill-testing trial in the CBD in this year’s budget. I have consistently advocated for the federal government to raise the rate of their payments and lift Canberrans out of poverty.
In addition to that, I have been pleased to work on a number of the Assembly’s committees, in committee inquiries, including school infrastructure and maintenance; drug decriminalisation; monuments to women; the four-day work week; child and adolescent health screenings; and the Carers Recognition Bill.
It has been a really big year. I am really proud of all that we have been able to achieve. I have been really proud of the great relationships, I think, I have been able to form, my team and I, right across this Assembly. There are many people that I work with in here that, if you had asked me before my election would I become friends with, I probably would have said no. But it has been really nice to meet fellow travellers who work here. By “fellow travellers” I mean people who are motivated by a sense of civic service, who want to make their community better.
I could not do this job if it were not for my incredibly talented staff. Let me just say this to the people of Tuggeranong: on the days I say something that you do not like, my bad. On the days that I have done something that you are incredibly pressed with, it is because Izzy, Jordan, Laura, Alex and Liz have punched well above their weight to make sure that your voices are represented here.
The wonderful thing about not just my staff—I am sure I speak for all members—but all staff is that the Canberra community might not appreciate that they really get bang for their buck when they get a member but they usually get a handful of really hardworking people that make that member upright with a coffee before going into the chamber to say something pretty impressive. So I am incredibly grateful to my team.
I am really grateful to my ACT Greens team. As my colleague Rebecca Vassarotti rightly pointed out, five out of the six of us are brand new here over the last year and it has been a steep learning curve. I imagine every employer, every parent, can relate
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