As Senator for the ACT, I am in the unusual position of representing the individual needs and wants of Canberrans while also speaking for our entire Territory within the Government. This means that in the course of my work, I deal with a range of issues – some Federal, some local, and some very personal.

Every matter raised by a constituent is an important one, but included here are some of the key issues I have worked on over the past five years, as well as links to speeches and articles about these. If you can’t find what you’re looking for here, or would like more information on any of these topics, please feel free to email me.   

ACT Public Service cuts:
The single most important issue for Canberra following the release of Labor's first Budgget is their plan to cut over 3000 jobs from the Australian Public Service. The Budget indicated big losses from Treasury, the Department of Human Services, Centrelink, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and the Australian Taxation Office, just to name a few. While it is too early to say exactly how many of these jobs will be lost from Canberra, we can be sure that our city will be worse affected than any other community in Australia by these irresponsible cuts.

At the same time, the Budget confirmed big cuts at our National Institutions and the National Capital Authority, sinking the boot into Canberra further and threatening our wider tourism and development base.   

I will be keeping a running tally of the new Government's cuts to Canberra, so if you hear about any new cutbacks in your Department, Agency or Office, please let me know.

It is a well-known fact that the fate of Canberra’s economy is tied to the fate of the public service. Over the past 11 years, the former Liberal Government’s careful and controlled public service growth built Canberra’s economy into a model of public and private integration, where annual growth in the public service feeds growth in the construction, retail and tourism sectors.

I am strongly opposed to any major spending cuts for the Australian Public Service. In the Senate, I have frequently spoken on the value of the public service both to Canberra and to the wider Australian community, and I will continue to speak out against its attackers in the new Government. Read one of my speeches here.  

Organ Donation:
Every year we burn and bury thousands of perfectly healthy, useful organs, while hundreds of people with serious illnesses die for want of them. For some, the decision to take their organs to the grave is made for religious, social or personal reasons, but for the vast majority of Australians the decision is not one they will bother to make, nor one they will probably even consider. And because of this, people are dying.

The current approach to organ donation in Australia is not working. Last year only 53 people in New South Wales donated their organs. In Victoria, there were 55 donors, and in Queensland only 39. In the ACT, there was just one single donor. Yet at the beginning of 2007, there were 1780 men, women and children registered on a transplant list in Australia, waiting for their chance at life. Because of this, I believe the time has come for a new, national debate about organ donation. At the launch of National Organ Donation Awareness Week 2008, I gave a speech calling for a move towards an 'opt out' organ donation model similar to those currently operating in Europe, and I will be asking my parliamentary colleagues, medical practitioners and the Australian community to get behind this important policy shift.

For more information on the 'opt out' model, read my speech here. I would also like to hear from anyone with experience of organ donation, either as a donor, recipient, relative of a donor, or medical practitioner. If you have some experience of this and would like to make a suggestion or comment on ways to boost Australia's donor rates, please contact my office.     

Mental health:
One in five Australians will suffer from a mental illness at some point in their lives. With families, friends and colleagues often struggling alongside the sufferer, mental health is an issue which should concern all Australians. In my previous role as Deputy Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Mental Health, and now as Deputy Chair of the Senate Community Affairs Committee investigating mental health services in Australia, I have seen and heard firsthand the isolation, exclusion and disadvantage sufferers face because of their illness. I believe we as a community need to do much more to address the root causes of this and develop a comprehensive, whole-of-life approach to treating it.

In Canberra, I have worked closely with local advocacy groups to raise awareness of mental illness and encourage people to speak about it more openly. I have supported the funding of new services in Belconnen and Civic as part of the Federal Government’s Support for Day to Day Living program, and I am also proud to support the Personal Helpers and Mentors Program, run by the Woden Community Service through the Australian Mental Health Council, which helps those with a mental illness remain active members and participants in their communities. These initiatives, and others like them, were part of the former Federal Government’s Promoting Better Mental Health initiative, which allocated $69 million over five years to improve services for those living with a mental illness. 

There is still much more to be done, particularly in addressing the social and personal pressures which contribute towards mental illness. I will continue to advocate for the mentally ill and those who support them, as we seek new ways of improving their lives and increasing awareness and understanding of mental illness. Read one of my speeches here.

Civil unions:
In 2006, I crossed the floor to vote against the Government and my Party colleagues on the issue of the ACT’s controversial Civil Unions legislation. Much has been made of my decision, but it is one I stand by emphatically. As Senator for the ACT, my responsibility is to the people of Canberra, a majority of whom strongly support the legal recognition of same sex couples. My responsibility is also to protect the legislative right of our Territory Parliament to make laws – a right which was under threat when the Federal Attorney-General moved to disallow the ACT’s civil unions legislation.

Although the laws were eventually blocked, I am proud of my decision to cross the floor and stand up for Canberra, and would be prepared to do the same again if our rights and interests were under threat. Read my speech on the civil unions bill here.

Tuggeranong ABC reception:
The ABC has a charter to provide broadcasting services to all Australians, yet in Canberra there are whole suburbs which have long missed out on the ABC’s Classic FM and Triple J stations because of a lack of available reception. This is a particular problem in the Tuggeranong Valley, where Canberra’s largest suburb, Kambah, is without comprehensive access to these great radio stations.

In 2005 I contacted the then Minister for Communications, Helen Coonan, to draw her attention to this anomaly, and ask if something could be done. Little did I realise at the time that fixing this problem would involve nearly two years of complicated consultation and lobbying! But through a big co-operative effort with ABC Canberra and the people of Tuggeranong, we were able to secure a commitment from the Minister to upgrade the transmission facilities on Tuggeranong Hill and bring better ABC coverage to the Valley. Work on the upgrade is now underway, and while it has not progressed with the speed I might have hoped, the residents of Tuggeranong should be able to join the rest of Canberra in tuning into Classic FM and Triple J by the end of 2008. Read Senator Coonan's announcement here.        

Australian Film Commission and the National Film and Sound Archive:
In 2003, the merger of the Australian Film Commission and the National Film and Sound Archive placed this important Canberra institution under threat. The Directions paper on the joint body’s future recommended that many jobs, functions and public programs be taken away from the Canberra site to centralise operations in Sydney. This would have damaged the National Film and Sound Archive's status as a pre-eminent Australian cultural institution, and weakened its important research and archival programs by taking away funding for specialist staff.

I was not prepared to see this happen, as I believe one of Canberra’s greatest strengths is its many and varied national institutions. I led negotiations with the Australian Film Commission’s Chief Executive, Kim Dalton, and then Arts Minister Rod Kemp to find a solution which would preserve the merger without undermining operations. And in December 2003, I was proud to stand beside Kim Dalton as he pledged that no jobs would be lost, and no existing functions moved out of Canberra. Four years on, and the AFC has been as good as its word – this national institution remains a strong and vibrant with a full complement of excellent research staff and archivists. Read media reports here and here.

York Park Trees:
Canberra is renowned for its green spaces and carefully planned parklands – many of which date back to city’s birth.  York Park, the leafy oasis between King’s Avenue and State Circle, is one of the best known as it includes a stand of oaks which were planted by the Duke and Duchess of York to celebrate the opening of Old Parliament House in 1927. Yet in 2004, these trees were threatened when the Department of Finance proposed to redevelop the park and build an office complex over it. This would have seen at least 20 of the 74 trees cut down, and another 27 being transplanted to other parts of the site. 

While I am a strong supporter of the public service and encourage its growth throughout Canberra, I also believe in preserving our city’s heritage for future generations. Canberra’s sculpted landscapes and carefully-designed vistas are as much a part of this heritage as its buildings and monuments. For this reason, I strongly opposed the York Park development, and lobbied hard to have the site listed on the Commonwealth Heritage List. I also pursued negotiations with then Finance Minister Nick Minchin and then Special Minister of State Eric Abetz to try and find a suitable alternative for the Finance development.

Following over a year of negotiations, I was very pleased when the former Federal Government announced it would amend the National Capital Plan to protect the trees from any future development. This will allow these wonderful old trees to live and thrive for many more years to come, and ensures that an important part of Canberra’s heritage is preserved into the future. Read media reports here and here.