2025-07-19
Just weeks after Greens negotiations on the health levy slashed $150 off every ACT rates bill, Labor has caved to pressure not to proceed with its new fee for volunteers to get a Working With Vulnerable People Card.
“This announcement has come three days after I wrote to the Treasurer, and three hours after I publicly called on him to dump the fee now, because Greens in balance of power would not support it in the Assembly,” said Greens MLA Laura Nuttall.
“This news will come as such a great relief to thousands of people in the community who give their time and effort to support their fellow Canberrans. They do it for free, and they should not be charged a fee.
“I’m inspired by the way our community rallied together to tell Labor that their thought bubble was more of a brain fart.
"It’s a victory for grassroots democracy, and it’s proof that pressure works.
“As a representative of a community-run party I know what it is to volunteer, to be supported by volunteers, and how volunteering really shapes this place that we all call home.
“I welcome the government’s decision today and I am proud to have collaborated with so many selfless, generous, hardworking people to achieve this outcome,” Miss Nuttall said.
Earlier today Miss Nuttall called on the Treasurer to dump the fee now, before it is inevitably disallowed by the ACT Legislative Assembly in September.
Over 1,300 people have signed a community petition sponsored by Miss Nuttall that called for the planned fee to be scrapped.