Thank you
With just 2 days of the campaign left until the election on May 3, I wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported my campaign and my work for the ACT over the past three years.
Whatever the result on Saturday night, I am so proud of what we have been able to achieve and so honoured to have had the chance to represent our community.
It’s been a huge last few weeks of the campaign and I’ve recapped some of the highlights below.
I also wanted to say a special thank you to the more than 1,300 Canberrans who have put their hand up to volunteer for Team Pocock, including on pre-poll over the past fortnight and on election day as well as more than 1,800 people who’ve donated to my campaign.
In the first 6 days of pre-polling, 73,106 ACT voters cast a ballot out of a total enrolment of 322,356 (around 300,000 people are expected to vote) - that’s 24% of expected votes, a new record for this point in pre-poll.
Election day - final shifts to fill
We’ve got more than 90 booths to cover on Saturday and there’s still quite a few shifts to fill. We have 16 x 3-hour shifts where we only have one volunteer and need someone to partner with them - so there’s still time to get in on the action! Any last bit of support is hugely appreciated. The Australian Public Service Commissioner has made clear that normal volunteering activities like handing out how-to-vote cards are low risk and would not normally require a public servant to inform their manager, but please email us if you have any questions.
You can sign up here or find out more by emailing [email protected]
Helping out also gets you an invitation to our election night thank you celebration on Saturday night so we can watch the results roll in together and take stock of a huge few weeks.
Campaign advocacy
Throughout the campaign I’ve kept pushing key policy issues that matter to our community after launching my full 2025 campaign policy platform.
I stood by workers and Down Syndrome Australia at a great local business Reindeer Retreat in Narrabundah, calling for fair pay for people with disability. Paying someone $3 an hour is not ok and this needs to change in the next parliament.
Together with some terrific Team Pocock volunteers who stepped up to donate, I called for a modern, evidence-based approach to blood donations that ends discrimination and boosts supply while maintaining safety.
I released new modelling from the Parliamentary Budget Office showing how much extra university students and graduates are paying as a result of delays to reforming the timing of indexation on student debt and reforming the failed Job Ready Graduates Scheme.
I pushed back against more Canberra bashing from the Coalition, punching down on public servants who can’t fight back and cuts that would tip our economy into recession.
Alongside a huge contingent of local business owners and their representatives as well as independent MLA Thomas Emerson, I made the case for the ACT and Federal Governments to jointly invest in more support for businesses impacted by the light rail works on London Circuit. We have to ensure that when these works are finished we still have a vibrant city centre for the light rail to deliver people into.
I pushed for bolder action on housing that goes beyond first home buyer policies and tackles the real, hard reform we need and highlighted how dire the situation has become for renters, especially those reliant on our so-called safety net payments.
And I stood with our frontline domestic, family and sexual violence organisations calling for adequate longer-term funding that actually enable them to meet the growing need across our community.
I’ve also done a stack of media interviews on a whole range of topics from the need to hold big tech companies to account for their toxic algorithms and more role modelling of positive masculinity, highlighting the need for more integrity from the NACC Commissioner, continuing my push for a full gambling advertising ban as recommended by the Murphy review and to raise the rate of income support payments, to calling for Ginninderra Falls to be returned to public access as a National Park.
Connecting with the Community
Housing Forum
Last week, I hosted The Great Housing Debate in Erindale, bringing together housing experts and our local community to tackle the big questions around affordability and homelessness. It was an honest, solutions-focused discussion - with strong calls for a national housing plan, tax reform, and real investment in social and affordable housing.
The message was clear: Australians want more than patch-up policies - they want bold, long-term change. If I am returned I’ll keep pushing in Parliament for the on reforms we need to make housing fairer and more accessible for everyone.
If you missed the forum, you can watch a recording of it here, and you can read more about my housing policy here.
Youth Forum
I also had the chance to chat to a couple of hundred young Canberrans at my packed out Youth Forum event - an inspiring night where we shared ideas, concerns, and solutions on issues from climate and mental health to student debt and housing. With expert panelists and powerful one-minute pitches, the message was clear: young people have the courage to face up to the big challenges we face.
This generation is shaping our future, and it's time politics caught up. I'm committed to making sure their voices are heard and reflected in the decisions that will affect them so much.
Candidate Debates
I’ve also attended lots of candidate debates over the past few weeks including the ANU Democracy Society Election Forum, Gungahlin Community Candidates Debate, Inner South Community Council Candidates Debate, Catholic Education Candidates Debate, a COSBOA roundtable, the Federation of Chinese Associations in the ACT, and the Advocacy for Inclusion Disability Town Hall. I even squeezed in my last mobile office on Monday - thanks to everyone who has come along to all of these events.
Over the past couple of months nearly 1500 Canberrans have come along to one of my events and I’m just so grateful for the engagement and getting to hear directly from our community.
I joined fellow Senate Candidates for a debate on 2CC and will be doing the same tomorrow (Thursday) morning from 8.30am on ABC666 if you want to listen in!
Sale on shop items
With just a few days left before the election, all remaining stock in the pocock.shop is on sale with 50% off!
Head over to the shop to get your Pocock merchandise now.
A reminder of how you can vote for me in the Senate is here if you’d like to see me keep going with all of this work and more.
I look forward to seeing many of you out on pre-poll over the next few days or at a booth on Saturday.
Thank you so much once again for your support,
David
Authorised by D. Pocock, David Pocock, Level 1, 33 Allara Street, Canberra, ACT 2601