19 August 2022

Getting down to business

The month-long break between parliamentary sitting fortnights has given me a chance to dive into Senate committee work.

Senate committee inquiries are a really important way of allowing deeper exploration of issues and how proposed legislation will impact communities by listening to and discussing it with the people the new laws will affect.

On Wednesday, I headed to Darwin to hear first-hand about the impact of plans to repeal the cashless debit card as part of the Community Affairs Legislation Committee inquiry. Legislation to repeal the card will likely come to the Senate for a vote in the next sitting period (from 5 September) so it was important to hear directly from the communities most affected.

While I was in the NT I also took the opportunity to meet with Chief Minister Natasha Fyles to discuss all things Territory Rights – another key piece of legislation coming for a vote when parliament returns.

I am doing everything I can to persuade my 75 Senate colleagues to vote in support of restoring our rights and ending this decades-old injustice.

I also participated in two days’ worth of Environment and Communications Legislation Committee public hearings as part of a really critical inquiry into the Government’s Climate Change Bills.

I know our community wants to see the 43% target legislated but equally I know you want to see more ambition and real progress in limiting warming to 1.5 degrees in line with our Paris commitment.

We have established a climate and energy policy working group to examine and provide community and expert input on this legislation, as well as the recently released consultation paper on the safeguard mechanism reforms. If you’d like to get involved sign up here and we will be in touch.

Other upcoming community consultations include a roundtable at the ANU next Thursday to discuss legislation to implement 10 days paid domestic and family violence leave and the first (virtual) meeting of our newly established housing affordability working group. Again, if you’d like to get involved please let us know here.

Come work with me!

Now that I have some certainty from the government around staffing allocation, I’m able to start recruiting for ongoing positions in the team.

The first two job ads are now live. You can read more about each role and how to apply at the links below:

Community Engagement & Strategy Manager:
Electorate Officer:

Team Pocock get-together and tree-planting day

With spring almost upon us I am keen to get together and catch up with our terrific Team Pocock volunteers.

We’re organising a tree-planting day for Saturday 10 September at my good friend Vince Heffernan’s farm near Dalton. Vince is an award-winning farmer who has planted over 60,000 trees on his farm, Moorlands, and seen soil health, biodiversity and farm productivity all increase. It’ll be a great day.

I’d love to see you there. Further details and RSVP here.

Second Town Hall

Our second quarterly town hall is coming up soon too. It is being held at Lanyon High School in Tuggeranong on Sunday 18 September from 3pm to 4pm with some informal chats before and after. Register here.

We have asked Aunty Pat Anderson AO to be our special guest to talk about next year’s referendum to enshrine a First Nation’s Voice in the constitution.

I’ll give an update on outcomes from the Jobs and Skills Summit as well as the September sitting fortnight, seek your views on next priorities – especially in the lead up to the Federal Budget on 25 October.

Like last time, we are inviting your questions via slido as well as from the floor on the day. Please submit them here.

Cost of living

In the past fortnight I’ve had the opportunity to participate in two key conferences on critical issues when it comes to the cost of living challenges we currently face.

The first was AHURI and Homelessness Australia’s National Homelessness Summit. I spoke on a breakfast panel with the Australian Greens Housing spokesperson and newly-elected Member for Griffith, Max Chandler-Mather.

The extent and depth of our housing and homelessness crisis is deeply troubling, and getting worse. It was good to have the chance to discuss a range of potential policy solutions with experts in the field and also re-state my calls for the federal government to forgive the ACT’s historic housing debt.

The other was the National EV Summit today. Accelerating the electrification of our homes, workplaces and importantly our transport, will not only make a huge dent in our emissions reduction it will save households a huge amount of money. Getting the policy settings right to create a thriving second-hand EV market is a policy priority for me and something I will continue to push.

Thanks so much to everyone who has sent in feedback, ideas and questions, please keep them coming.

Kind regards,

Senator David Pocock

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