New Canberra Liberals MLA Nicole Lawder has delivered her maiden speech in the ACT Legislative Assembly, calling for “a Canberra that is accessible and inclusive of everyone”.
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Ms Lawder, who replaces former MLA Zed Seselja after winning a casual vacancy by eight votes, told the Assembly she wanted a city with a “real sense of community” but which was also prepared to “take on bigger and better things” as Australia’s capital.
“This is what I want for Canberra and we have a way to go,” she said.
The former Homelessness ACT chief executive used her speech to call on the territory to address the “structural causes of homelessness” and said “it pains me greatly to say that the ACT has the second worst rate of homelessness in Australia”.
“Homelessness can be triggered by poverty, mental illness, family and relationship breakdown, substance misuse, and one of the great scourges of our society: domestic and family violence” Ms Lawder said.
“But also here in Canberra a major factor which contributes to homelessness is the lack of affordable housing."
The Brindabella MLA, who was supported on Tuesday by a gallery of family, supporters and friends, said she also wanted a territory that did more for its ageing and disabled residents.
Ms Lawder said she would use this Assembly term to pressure the government on basic service delivery, including roads maintenance and parking, and to continue her party’s scrutiny of emergency department wait times in Canberra’s hospitals.
Ms Lawder said she was a “Liberal in the traditional 'small l' liberal sense, of believing in the individual, their rights and their enterprise”.
But the MLA said she did not believe that same-sex marriage legislation was an issue that should be pursued by the ACT Legislative Assembly.
Ms Lawder said she believed in “advancing the rights of Canberrans in the gay and lesbian community” but marriage equality was a federal issue.
