From David Smith MP - September/October eNews

It has been a busy and productive few weeks both in Parliament and across our local community, and I would like to share some of the highlights with you.

In important news for our community, the Albanese Labor Government has secured $10 million for essential building upgrades to keep the Burrangiri Aged Care Respite Centre operating. This means that Burrangiri can continue to deliver aged care respite services for older Canberrans.

In Parliament, the Albanese Government has been getting on with legislating pay rises for early educators, protecting Australians from the harms of gambling, banning credit and debit card surcharges, making the internet safer through the Digital Duty of Care and making medicines more affordable.

Locally, I have been doing 80 walks in 80 days with many people in our community in the lead-up to Menslink Great Walk, delivered a major speech on the future of the Capital Region, called for reforms in the way the ACT is represented, and backed a merger of UC and CIT.

We continue to keep the Nepali community in our thoughts after the tragic natural disaster in Nepal and Tibet. While the story has been forgotten by the news, I will continue to support the Nepali community and the people of Nepal as they continue to grieve.

I will be holding my popular annual Seniors Forums in November. See below for more details.

I am proud of all the local community minded people and organisations who work so hard to make our community fair, safe and more equitable. I know the south will continue to get behind all those that do incredible work in and on behalf of our community.