From my Desk
Early this month, I spoke to Mark Parton MLA’s motion relating to the government’s outrageous policies against petrol-powered vehicles and internal combustion engines in particular.
I support the principle of allowing people to take control of their own lives and enjoy Canberra without unnecessary restrictions, I cannot accept the government’s attitude towards imposing prohibitions on petrol-powered cars in suburbs. The ACT is really scraping at the bottom of the barrel in social experimentation with their raft of unbelievable proposals.
I am appalled that the ACT Labor/Greens government is in support to ban petrol-powered cars from certain suburbs as part of the ‘C40 Healthy Streets Agreement’. No further information has been provided; how can this Labor/Greens government even consider such an outrageous proposal?
If the ACT Labor/Greens government has its way, certain yet unnamed suburbs will be declared free of petrol-powered cars as a way of forcing their replacement with EV’s or just pushing residents onto public transport for all their travel needs.
How would you react to your suburb designated to be free from petrol-powered cars? What has happened to freedom of choice?
To read more click here.
Out and About
Last month I held a community event down by Yerrabi Pond in Amaroo. I wanted to say thank you to those who braved the cold day and came for a chat!
There were many issues raised about the state and ongoing maintenance of the pond, the absence of toilets on the Amaroo side, the maintenance and upkeep of the business precinct along the foreshore of Yerrabi Pond, and many more issues I have taken to the Government.
Over the winter, I am swapping these Hot Chocolate events for mobile offices, as it is just getting too cold! So please, be sure to keep an eye on my socials for my next mobile office – which might just be down the street from you! If you would like to catch about something bothering you, or if you are in a community group, or run a small business, please don’t hesitate to reply to this email and we can catch up over coffee and discusses matters that concern you!
End of Financial Year
would love your help to kick off fundraising for our next election campaign in 2024. If you are able to donate, please click here. Any support would be much appreciated.
Yerrabi; Your Region, Your Say
The Results are in!
After a few months on the campaign trail finding out what matters to you and the future of our community, I can finally say thank you. Thank you to everyone who completed this survey outlinging what needs to change for our community to grow and thrive. Watch the video below to see the results.
Portfolio
This government does like to give the appearance of doing something. They are particularly very big on announcements. It reminds me of some of the episodes of Utopia, now streaming on Netflix. Here there was a dysfunctional government liaison, Jim Gibson, ably supported by Rhonda Steward the media manager, who kept saying, “But we need to keep it fresh, we must make an announcement. We need to give the appearance of doing something.”
This government operates in very much this way! For instance, in 2019 they promised 2 new fire stations, one in Molonglo and one in Acton. Then in 2020, they recommitted to them during the election and as part of their 10th Assembly agreement. In the 2020 budget, there was a big announcement of $45 million to be spent on the Acton station, on the corner of Parkes Way and Clunnies Ross Street.
The Acton fire station was to be completed by 2021 and operational by 2022. Construction was part of the ACT government’s COVID-19 local jobs and economic recovery plan. But I don’t know if you have driven that way recently? There is nothing there. Not even a sod of earth has been turned for the building of this station. And now it appears that there may in fact be problems with the suitability of road access to the site.
Then, yesterday, another announcement was made, about the Molonglo Fire Station. Mind, this was already announced in last year’s budget. This one is slated for completion in 2026. Oh and by the way, there wasn’t a single mention of the Action station!
There has also been a promise of 99 new ambulance officers. I asked about this again in the Assembly last week. But the Minister had nothing new to add – beyond how wonderful the Emergency Services Agency is and how they are working hard at recruitment. The problem is of course, that the ACT Ambulance Service has the second-highest attrition rate in Australia. 11.4% leave the services annually, almost double that of the next nearest state.
The Minister offers many glib answers and yet again a promise of the new roster system and how this will improve working conditions. But, paramedics will now have to wait till February next year to see this in place! That’s almost 12 months after it was first promised, 5 years after the first agreement with the Unions that a new rostering system would be implemented. Yes, there’s a lot of announcements coming from this government, but as with everything else, there’s very little action indeed.
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Authorised by James Milligan MLA