The Murrumbidgee electorate is named after the Murrumbidgee River, which flows through it, hence the reference to this week’s song from 1974, Al Green’s “Take Me to the River” (or the recent Lorde cover).

The electorate consists of the Woden Valley, Weston Creek and Molonglo suburbs, as well as the south Canberra suburbs of Deakin, Yarralumla, Forrest and Red Hill, as well as Uriarra Village and Stromlo. The word “Murrumbidgee” apparently means “big water” in the local Aboriginal language.

I recently spoke with Fiona Carrick MLA about what she sees as the main issues facing the electorate at the moment. Fiona is an independent Member for Murrumbidgee, elected at the 2024 election after narrowly missing out in 2020, and she is passionate about standing up for the Woden area, particularly on planning issues, as she also did during her time with the Woden Valley Community Council. 

You can hear more of her comments on the “Bite-sized politics” podcast, including the success of the campaign (and petitions) to save Burrangiri, an Aged Care Respite Centre which was slated to close. Due to the spirited community campaign, in May 2025, the ACT Government agreed to support the Salvation Army to operate Burrangiri for another two years. A recent ACT Legislative Assembly committee inquiry made a number of recommendations about the future of Burrangiri, and aged care in the ACT generally.

Over the years, a persistent concern has been the loss of community facilities, including sporting facilities. The loss of the Curtin horse paddocks through a land exchange with the National Capital Authority, the closure of the basketball stadium at Phillip and more recently, drama about the Phillip pool have all been the focus of much attention.

Phillip pool zoning was changed from the existing 50m to 25m to accommodate a mixed-use development on the site. This change apparently took place in a draft Territory Plan weeks before the pool site was sold in 2022, but opponents of the change (which was not publicised at the time) fear that the loss of a 50m public outdoor pool in the centre of Woden will mean loss of amenity for locals, with the Stromlo pool too far for some to travel. Furthermore, there was no public consultation about the change beforehand. The ACT Audit Office is currently undertaking an audit regarding the changes to the Territory Plan for the Phillip Pool: watch this space for the findings.

You may have seen “Save Phillip Pool” campaigners and signs around Woden and Tuggeranong, with locals determined to have their say.  What I find even more interesting is that the Minister for Planning, Chris Steel, presided over these changes, even though he is a local member for Murrumbidgee himself. Furthermore, in his 2025 “Statement of Planning Intent”, one of the nine key priorities is to “Support community needs across the ACT”.

I, for one, don’t understand how changing the zoning of the Phillip pool from 50m to 25m supports community needs.

For further discussion on this topic, head to Bite-sized politics (around 15 minutes easy listening) on Spotify.