ACT Greens: Drug harm and animal welfare
The ACT Greens have announced a drug harm reduction plan, aiming to de-stigmatise drug use and increase access to health support.
The $14.7 million plan includes establishing a supervised overdose prevention service ($3 million); permanently funding Canberra’s fixed-site drug testing service, CanTEST, beyond June 2027 ($3 million); creating peer support programs at events and festivals ($2 million), and in Canberra’s south ($3 million); supporting Aboriginal harm reduction programs; commissioning a review of opioid dependence treatments ($300,000); and forming a Harm Reduction Taskforce ($3 million). The Greens will run health promotion campaigns to raise awareness of the risks of contaminated drug supply ($400,000).
“People take drugs. They always have and always will. We need to take a genuine health approach to drug use to remove the stigma, increase access to care and literally save lives,” Emma Davidson MLA, current Minister for Population Health, said.
The Greens have also announced their animal welfare policy. They would offer 500 free pet desexing vouchers to concession card holders every year and $500 vouchers for volunteer wildlife carers.
“We don’t want people under financial stress to be forced into the heartbreaking decision to surrender their pets, which can happen particularly when pets haven’t been desexed and become pregnant,” Laura Nuttall MLA said.
The Greens would increase the powers of the RSPCA to investigate and intervene in cases of reported suspected animal cruelty and neglect, and employ more domestic animal rangers to respond to welfare issues. To reduce the impact of car collisions, they would fund wildlife overpasses, underpasses, and virtual fencing at collision hotspots. They would fully fund the injured wildlife hotline and access to wildlife veterinary services, and expand the wombat mange treatment program. They would reduce the use of barbed wire fencing, starting with public land, and ban the sale of second-generation rodent poisons. They would discontinue public funding of $8 million yearly for the horse racing industry.
The Animal Justice Party said it supported several of the Greens’ promises, but called for more comprehensive measures, such as a total ban on horse racing, broader wildlife protection, and the removal of barbed wire and harmful poisons.
However, lead candidate Robyn Soxsmith criticised the ACT Greens for their complicity in “the indisputably cruel and ecologically unsupportable massacre of more than 40,000 kangaroos and innumerable at-foot and pouch joeys in the ACT over the last 15 years” and the use of “excruciatingly painful” poisons like 1080 to kill dingoes, foxes, and rabbits. Ms Soxsmith said she acknowledged the federal Greens’ achievements, such as banning battery cages, greyhound racing, and supporting renters’ rights to keep pets.
“However, none of this even begins to justify or negates the suffering the ACT Greens have, in coalition with Labor, inflicted on” kangaroos, other native animals, and naturalized animals, Ms Soxsmith said.
ACT Labor’s regional plan for inner Canberra
ACT Labor has announced its regional plans for the inner north and inner south (the electorates of Kurrajong, Chief Minister Andrew Barr‘s own seat, and parts of Murrumbidgee).
“From paths and playgrounds to housing and health services, ACT Labor has a plan to build the infrastructure the [Inner South / Inner North] needs and improve the things locals love,” a spokesperson said.
Health: A health centre is being built in Griffith, with multi-disciplinary staff. A $1 billion Northside Hospital will be built on the North Canberra Hospital (formerly Calvary Public Hospital) campus, with a bigger emergency department and more treatment spaces. Services at the Inner North Walk-in Centre will be expanded, including more nurses. The new Critical Services Building at Canberra Hospital has opened, and upgrades will include more car parking.
Public transport: Labor will build the light rail route from Civic to Commonwealth Park. Bus services will increase to every 20 minutes on weekdays and hourly on Sundays. The popular R2 service from Belconnen to Fyshwick via the City, Barton and Kingston will run more often.
Schools: Local public schools are being expanded, including Telopea Park High and Narrabundah College. Upgrades are planned for Alfred Deakin High, Narrabundah Early Childhood School, Majura Primary, Lyneham High, Campbell Primary, Campbell High School, O’Connor Cooperative School, and Turner School. A Free Meals in Schools program is being piloted at Narrabundah Early Childhood School.
Shops: The Narrabundah, Braddon, Garema Place, and Dickson shops are being, and Griffith and Kingston shops will be, upgraded. More houses will be built at local shops, to provide housing and rejuvenate shops and suburbs. New public toilets will be built at Red Hill and Downer shops. The Sydney and Melbourne buildings are being revitalised, and Odgers and Verity Lanes upgraded.
Sports / community: Change rooms at Griffith and Narrabundah playing fields, in Ainslie, O’Connor, and at Reid Oval will be upgraded for women to use. Manuka Oval will be upgraded to attract international sports games to Canberra. A new Canberra Theatre Precinct with a 2,000-seat lyric theatre is being built, and Gorman Arts Centre will be upgraded. An emergency services station is being built in Acton to improve response times in the Inner North, and there are plans for a new City police station.
Parks and public spaces: Labor recently built a new park and playground in North Watson, and replaced dead and dying trees in Telopea Park. Work has begun on playgrounds on Windeyer Street and at Acton Waterfront. Labor intends to build a new playground at Griffith Shops; the Kingston Arts Precinct; improve lighting and build a new path from Darling Street to Gosse Street; and a new dog park. Monash Drive (running behind Hackett, Ainslie and Braddon) would be removed from the National Capital Plan to protect the area from future road construction.
Paths and roads: ACT Labor would buildstage two of the Kingston Cycleway, connecting Bowen Park through the Kingston Foreshore with Cunningham Street near the Railway Station, and continue the cycleway to Dickson, Downer and Watson. Raised crossings are being added around Telopea Park and New South Wales Crescent in Kingston, on the West Basin cycle path alongside Alexandrina Drive in Yarralumla, and on Bauhinia Drive in O’Connor. Labor committed to build one on Challis Street in Dickson. A new pedestrian crossing will be built at Flinders Way and Monaro Crescent to help children walk to school safely. Hume Circle, the intersection of Canberra Avenue, Wentworth Avenue and Sturt Avenue in Griffith will be improved. Footpaths are being improved in Braddon, O’Connor, Reid, and the City, and upgrades to Beltana Road in Pialligo are close to completion.
Housing: A build-to-rent development will be built in Turner.
ACT Green leader Shane Rattenbury and deputy leader Rebecca Vassarotti, both contesting Kurrajong, said: “The inner north and inner south regions of the ACT are vibrant areas of Canberra that are seeing significant change as the city evolves. The items outlined in Labor’s Plan for the regions reflects a lot of work already underway, work that the Greens have supported in our role in government. Investments in areas such as active and public transport are welcome, as are upgrades to schools, shops and parks. We urge ACT Labor to ensure that community engagement on these projects is meaningful and proactive.
“The ACT Greens vision for these parts of Canberra is to see them evolve as vibrant, liveable neighbourhoods, where climate friendly ways of getting around the city are easy and accessible. The protection and enhancement of our greenspaces and environmental infrastructure are so important – we want to ensure our parks are well maintained and support biodiversity, and that our waterways, including Sullivans Creek, are revitalised and renaturalised. We agree we need to see schools upgraded and new schools established in areas where we expect more homes. The Greens have released our plans to deliver key health services in these areas including free GP clinics, and mental health services such as Safe Haven Cafes. We are also committed to delivering community infrastructure such as local public toilets in places where there is community activity.”
Independent candidates contesting the seat of Kurrajong were not impressed.
Peter Strong AM (Strong Independents) said: “This is a nothing announcement, announcing next to nothing. Labor is getting desperate and want to focus on anything but the real issues such as health, education, strata management, and transparency. They are announcing upgrades to changerooms – actions that should happen without the need for an announcement. They are desperate.”
Thomas Emerson (Independents for Canberra) said: “Many Canberrans I’m hearing from are frustrated by the poor upkeep of our streets, ovals and local shopping centres. This is core government business that shouldn’t need to be an election commitment.
“The Inner North and Inner South plan contains a series of commitments to doing what a local government is supposed to do. “What I don’t see is a commitment to housing all of the people without a safe place to sleep in our city. The people sleeping rough at Dickson shops, those camping outside the Legislative Assembly, the Canberrans sleeping in cars parked by the lake – where’s the commitment to them?”
FOGO
The ACT Government will expand its Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) collection pilot to include more than 1,150 units in Belconnen and Tuggeranong: 772 households in Belconnen and 400 households in Tuggeranong.
Since November 2021, the FOGO pilot has collected food scraps and garden waste from 5,300 households in Belconnen, Bruce, Cook, and Macquarie very week. Food makes up a third of ACT household waste (26,000 tonnes). By June this year, FOGO had diverted 3,475 tonnes of food and garden waste from landfill and turned this material into compost, Tara Cheyne, ACT Minister for City Services, said.
“This supports a circular economy within the ACT, and reduces the amount of harmful greenhouse gas emissions that come from our landfill,” Ms Cheyne said.
Participating households will be notified via a letter and information sessions. They will receive kitchen caddies, compostable bags for food scraps, and FOGO bins. Regular bin collections within the expansion areas will not be changed.
ACT Greens MLA Jo Clay, however, believes FOGO is not being rolled out quickly enough.
“We were meant to have Canberra-wide household FOGO recycling by 2023,” Ms Clay said. “Labor says they don’t have the time and resources to build an industrial composting facility and they can’t do anything until 2026 at the earliest. I’m worried it won’t be 2026 either – many of Labor’s major capital works projects are running late.”
Heritage path
The ACT Government plans to build a new 650-metre loop path through Palmerville Heritage Park, built on the site of a 19th-century rural settlement.
The path, requested by the community, will improve visits to the recreation area, Ms Cheyne said. The path will be built to resist flooding from Ginninderra Creek.
Construction is expected to begin early next year, once heritage and environment approvals are complete.
The government will also upgrade Evatt shops. Work will begin next month. It will include new seats and tables, nature play elements, an art mural, improved landscaping, and a toilet block.
Child protection
Maria Kanellopoulos has been formally appointed as the first Chief Practitioner in the ACT’s child protection and youth justice services.
The Chief Practitioner will improve decision-making, ensuring processes are timely, fair, and transparent.
Ms Kanellopoulos has acted in the rôle since February 2024, when the position was established.
