Join us for our end-of-year walkshop and social to celebrate a big— and catch up on what Living Streets Canberra did in 2025!
The year’s been full of activity — let’s celebrate together! Join our end-of-year walkshop around Dickson Group Centre to build knowledge and skills, then head to Dickson Taphouse for dinner and socialising. A great way to recharge and get ready for an even more productive 2026.
What: Living Streets Canberra end-of-year social gathering
When: Tuesday, 2 December, starting at 6:00pm
Where:
- 6:00pm meet at Dickson Bus Interchange, outside Access Canberra
- 6:05–6:30pm walk around Dickson, observing good and not-so-good walking environments
- about 6:45pm dinner and social at Dickson Taphouse
- 8:00pm finish (feel free to stay longer if you’d like!)
Bring: Yourself, a phone or camera to record or livestream observations, and money if you’d like drinks or food
Community
Community events are a great way to meet people and spark conversations. This year, Living Streets Canberra had stalls at the Kambah Sustainability Festival and Southfest.
Thanks to awesome volunteers for commitment, support and helping with advocacy! In particular:
- Matt for starting work to modernise our website and making our stalls happen
- Kevin and Bronwyn for assessing the environments of some of the proposed locations for new light rail stations
Have your say
Petitions to sign
Petitions to improve our walking environments feature regularly on the ACT Legislative Assembly petitions page. Usually they focus on safety – and we support them. Here are current petitions you may like to sign:
- Belconnen – Missing Trunk Path Connecting Belconnen-Kippax-Ginninderry (Completing Active Travel Requirements in West Belconnen CLOSES MONDAY 1 Dec!
- Manuka – Captain Cook Crescent pedestrian crossing closes 13 February (deadline extended). A woman was hit and badly injured on the crossing two weeks after the petition was launched.calls for separated bike path
- Tuggeranong – Installation of Traffic Lights at the Intersection of Drakeford Drive and Noorooma Street, Isabella Plains – could improve pedestrian safety at nearby intersections
Advocacy
Coming up
Over the next couple of weeks, we will be contributing submissions on:
- Major Territory Plan Amendments
- Thoroughbred Park Precinct – Major Territory Plan Amendment #8 – submissions open until 1 December
- Northern Gateway – Major Territory Plan Amendment #9 – submissions open until 12 December
- Inquiry into the provision of municipal services in Canberra – submissions open until 12 December.
- Inquiry into Missing Middle Housing Reform – submissions close 19 December
Living Streets Canberra has advocated for years that the community be able to add its tacit knowledge as early as possible during design stages for projects involving active travel infrastructure and pedestrian spaces.
We have been meeting with relevant areas of the ACT Government. As a result, we are now on the email lists for project updates or engagement opportunities for a raft of major and substantial infrastructure projects. We have also asked to be involved during the design stages – for a better outcome and a smoother and more efficient community consultation process.
If you would like to contribute to our contributions to this work, please email us.
We would love help with research, analysis, preparing our submissions (including any pictures or case studies you have!), and attending forums.
2025 achievements
Local media has picked up on several issues we have been advocating about and now considers us a source for comments.
Issues covered include the state and availability of our paths, which has resulted in several radio interviews.
Submissions
We made several submissions to consultations at local and national level (though nowhere near as many as last year!):
- Comments on Productivity Commission draft report on Creating a more dynamic and resilient economy
- Light Rail Stage 2B draft Environmental Impact Statement – comments, 5 September 2025
- Inquiry into the effectiveness of Fix My Street
- Pre-Budget submission 2025-26 to Commonwealth Government
Path safety, accessibility and availability
Our environment for walking can be dangerous – and it can have real-life consequences.
That’s why our advocacy and shared policy platform ‘ACT for Safe, Healthy, Active, Inclusive Streets‘ calls for all our paths, streets and other infrastructure for walking to be safe and accessible. All current MLAs have copies.
We initiated a joint media release highlighting the particularly dangerous closure of paths on a whole block on Northbourne Avenue. It resulted in interviews with commercial radio and Region Media and made path closures for construction projects an issue.
Our advocacy has been noticed by some MLAs and is resulting in changes to how such ‘unleased land’ is treated by the ACT Government.
Following on from our submission, we participated in the ACT Legislative Assembly’s Hearings for Inquiry into the effectiveness of Fix My Street.
As a result, Living Streets Canberra was interviewed by ABC Canberra News and its Drive Program and by WIN News Canberra (watch on our Facebook or Instagram).
Coming out of that Inquiry is another Inquiry: into the provision of municipal services in Canberra.
Visual advocacy from the community (including Living Streets Canberra members) resulted in a new raised pedestrian crossing to improve safety for people accessing the Capital Food Market. Canberra by Bike’s video illustrates the difference between the two crossing experiences.
Conversations with our elected representatives are also starting to pay off.
They have been asking ‘awkward’ questions of ACT Government Ministers and Officials, particularly during hearings about Budget Estimates and Annual Reports.
Safe streets to school
We welcomed the ACT Government announcement announcement, during Road Safety Week, a mid-block signalised crossing on Canberra Avenue. This will improve safety for people crossing *one* of the busy roads around St Edmund’s and St Clare’s Colleges in Griffith.
Thanks also to St Clare’s College, Canberra Principal, Dr Ann Cleary, for uncovering the huge level of concern about road safety in her school community and for pointing out that ‘the University of Adelaide research that found “the higher the speed limit outside of school zone times or places, the more likely cars are to speed through the school zone”.
The recommendations in the report support what we and others are asking for in the ACT for Safe, Healthy, Active, Inclusive Streets’ shared policy platform.
Collaborations and consultation
We are active members of several consultative groups and collaborations at local and national level.
This year these included:
- Transport Working Groups of the Conservation Council ACT Region and Better Futures Australia. Amongst other things we contributed to joint submissions. We have also just joined the Conservation Council’s Climate Change Working Group.
- ACT Government’s Light Rail to Woden Community Reference Group, Environment & Planning Forum, and Accessibility Reference Group
- Ginninderry Community Services and Development Reference Group
Diary dates
Living Streets Canberra meetings
Living Streets Canberra meets every second Tuesday at 6pm, usually online.
We will start 2026 with an in-person planning meeting on 27 January.
What about…?
- We currently have a ‘motornormative’ culture that prioritises driving
- Our streets lack visual and other sensory signals to drive slowly (signs aren’t enough of a signal)
- These speeds currently apply to short stretches of street in Australia. In contrast, there is clear evidence that people drive closer to 30km/h when it applies to an area and not just a short stretch of street.
That’s why the ACT for Safe, Healthy, Active, Inclusive Streets’ shared policy platform calls for 30 km/h as the evidence-based maximum default safe speed for most streets in built-up areas. It outlines what is needed and why.
Follow and Support us
Social Media
You can follow and interact with Living Streets Canberra on Facebook (where we share the most news) and Instagram.
Become a member
One important way you can help us is to become a member of SEE-Change and elect to join the Living Streets group.
Help us out!
We’re always looking for help including:
- Reaching out, connecting and building our movement of members, supporters and links with like-minded organisations
- Observing, recording and sharing what it’s like to walk, roll and be in public places in Canberra
- Researching and writing submissions, articles, letters to the editor etc
- Organising ‘walkshops’ and other events to engage, and skill members and supporters
- A range of ‘Behind the scenes’ work including social media, IT, graphic design, artwork, compiling newsletters
We have things you can do from as little a 5 minutes per week that will help. No experience needed – just a passion to make our streets, paths and crossings welcoming to everyone and a willingness to learn. That’s how we build momentum for everyone can enjoy moving around our city without a car!
More details about how you can get involved are here.
Donate
Living Streets Canberra is really grassroots. A few of us pay most of our expenses.
You can support our work financially by making a tax-deductible donation to SEE Change and specifying that you want the funds to be directed to Living Streets Canberra.
Til next time… See you out on the streets!
Living Streets Canberra is a SEE Change group and a member of the Conservation Council of the ACT and Region.
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