In just a few short months, Greater Canberra has grown from some friends organising a petition, to an organisation that’s making a real difference in the ACT planning debate by advocating for more housing and a more liveable and sustainable Canberra.

Below we’ve outlined some recent achievements, and how you can get involved in upcoming campaigns and advocacy.

What we’ve been up to

Greater Canberra’s been getting some press! In March our initial reactions to the ACT Government’s draft planning bill appeared on the radio, the local news, and online, as we called for affordability to be front and center of the new planning reforms. Our advocacy for more infill housing also garnered attention from the Canberra Times in the wake of an ACT Legislative Assembly debate on housing affordability.

We were proud to hold our first in-person event to gather support for the YWCA’s YHomes supportive housing project. The development, which will provide affordable homes for women at risk of homelessness, had previously been held up by opposition from a minority of locals. We were glad to see that the majority of representations on the project’s second development application were supportive, and are hopeful the project will now be able to proceed!

Finally, we’ve published some great articles and blog posts, including a piece on the climate implications of urban design, an article for International Women’s Day on why urban design matters for gender equality, and a letter from our Secretary Andrew Donnellan on why heritage listing Canberra could do more harm than good, which was published in the Canberra Times. Our Deputy Convenor Michael also created a simple online tool to help Canberra renters figure out how much their rent can legally be increased!

How you can get involved

There’s a number of ways you can help us achieve our goal of creating a more affordable, liveable and sustainable Canberra:

  • Become a member, or get a friend or family member to join. Membership is just $20 (or $10 for those not working), gives you access to our members-only discord channel, and helps support our work.
  • Join one of our teams. We’re particularly looking for team members who can write content, manage social media, and organise events, or consultation team members to help us identify and engage in consultation processes for important ACT housing projects.
  • Keep us in the loop. We keep our ears to the ground, but we do miss things from time to time. If there’s an opportunity to advocate for more and better housing in the ACT that you think we might have missed, let us know.

If you’d like to be more involved or get in touch, send us an email, fill out the contact form on our website, or send us a message on Twitter, Facebook or Discord. We’re always around to chat.