Thank you, Madam Speaker. For many years, experts raised concerns about the lack of specialist homelessness services for young Canberrans below the age of 16. Research conducted in the territory by ACU reveals that overwhelmingly these kids leave home to escape family conflict, violence, abuse, the impacts of alcohol or drugs, or the impacts of poor mental health. When these youth are picked up by the police, they sometimes spend a night at the watchhouse before being returne

Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I thank Mr Petterson for bringing this motion before the Assembly today. I am not surprised by the large percentage of Canberrans who support the introduction of shared e-scooters into Canberra. I personally love them! Nor am I surprised by the fact that many would like to see the scheme expanded to other areas of Canberra. I would like to see that as well. I am happy that when the scheme was first introduced, a portion of my electorate of Ginnin

Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I thank Ms Castley for bringing this very important motion before the Assembly today. This motion does a good job of addressing the broad range of concerns that have been reported to me personally. I have heard from constituents who were excited to try a new business using the ChooseCBR scheme when it was first relaunched, received the service, and when they went to pay, they were charged full price because the scheme had been taken off-line. Oth

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am proud to bring this motion before the Assembly today. I do so at the urging of some who have worked in residential care homes here in the ACT. These dedicated, passionate youth workers have sought to do all they could to help the children and young people in their care, and they have great hopes for these kids. Their lived experiences have given them insights that we in this chamber should consider carefully and take seriously. Today, I am honou

Thank you, Madam Speaker. As we approach the end of National Reconciliation Week, I rise today to share a few thoughts about reconciliation. I recently had the privilege of sitting down for nearly an hour to listen to a senior Aboriginal leader. I asked him to explain to me what reconciliation means to him personally. His first response: telling the truth. Nothing can get better until we know the facts, he asserted. And whilst it is essential to know what happened in the past