TL, DR version

 

Hi, I'm Taimus Werner-Gibbings. I am fighting for Tuggeranong.

 

I have been your local and vocal Labor Member for Brindabella in the ACT Legislative Assembly since you elected me in October 2024.

 

Over three elections and now as your local member, I’ve doorknocked up and down nearly every street in every suburb in Tuggeranong. It is an extraordinary feeling to have your support, trust and confidence. I understand how privileged I am to be chosen by my neighbours. It is the honour of my life to try and make a positive difference for Brindabella. I’m in this for you.

 

I like people, which is why I represent the Labor Party in the ACT Legislative Assembly. Born in country NSW, raised in the ACT public education system, matured in Sydney (and a little bit overseas), returned to Canberra to raise a family with a wonderful country girl who loves Tuggeranong even more than me.

 

Interested in learning more about me? Have a read below!

 

Taimus Werner-Gibbings MLA

Member for Brindabella

 

 

 

Novel version

 

Life Details

I was born in Deniliquin in south-western NSW. Mum was a dentist and had been raised in Canberra. She knew it was a wonderful, wonderful place to raise a family. Like plenty of times before and since (I hope she’s not reading this), she was right.

 

We moved to Canberra in 1988. Mum was a small business owner-operator of her Dental Practice in Weston Creek. Dad was a public school physics and flight teacher at Copland College, Erindale College and Lake Tuggeranong College. I went to Weston Primary School, Stromlo High School and Lake Tuggeranong College. I played footy for the Weston Creek Wildcats, league for the Woden Valley Rams, and cricket for Weston Creek and then Tuggeranong Valley.

 

I studied Arts and Law at the University of Sydney, met and married a one-in-a-million woman (per the Whitlams, “there’s five more just in New South Wales!”), spent 12ish years learning, working and experiencing in and around Sydney or the United Kingdom, had a son, had another son, and returned to Canberra in 2013 because mum was right. She still is.

 

11 years ago, we made a deliberate, informed choice to build a happy life in Tuggeranong. We chose well. In Tuggeranong, we came home.

 

We bought in Gowrie and then moved to Fadden – after having a baby girl – in 2021.

 

In Canberra, I’ve worked as a public servant in four or five federal departments, a political staffer in the Australian Parliament and now as the local and vocal representative of Brindabella in the ACT Legislative Assembly.

 

Over three elections, I’ve doorknocked up and down nearly every street in every suburb in Tuggeranong. It is an extraordinary feeling to have your support, trust and confidence. I understand how privileged I am to be chosen by my neighbours. It is the honour of my life to try and make a positive difference for Brindabella. I’m in this for you.

 

 

Value: I like People

I like people. That is my guiding political and personal principle. I want people to be happier than they are now (even if they are really happy).

 

From a local government perspective, that means ensuring that public education remains Canberra’s biggest social bargain, that public health remains Canberra’s most important social safety net, that modernising public transport keeps Canberra connected, and that looking after the little things – footpaths, ovals, parks – improves our community life. That’s why I represent the ACT Labor Party in the ACT Legislative Assembly.

 

 

Value: Labor

I joined the Labor Party inspired by Ben Chifley’s conception of it as a political movement bringing something better to most Australians; a greater share in those things that make life worth living. Helping them to that light on the hill.

 

I joined it because it is the only political movement in this city with the will and ability to do the big things, and look after the little things, that make peoples’ lives better.

 

 

Value: Public Schools

I am, almost completely, the product of a strong and ambitious ACT public education system, focused not just on science and technology, but also culture, literature, and arts, and critical thinking.

 

ACT public schools are outrageously good value community institutions delivering generally excellent outcomes.

 

Three generations of my family have benefitted from attending their local ACT public school. I have children respectively thriving in a Tuggeranong public primary school, a Tuggeranong public high school and a Tuggeranong public college. That’s why I promote Tuggeranong’s public schools, not just protect them. I am working to make them even better with more opportunities for our children. 

 

 

Value: Public Health

I’ve been a patient at the Canberra Hospital since 1999, when I was diagnosed with Type-1 Diabetes. My wife Libby works at the Hospital, so I hear what's working and also what more we can do.

 

It’s also why I understand the importance of improving access to good public healthcare in Tuggeranong, and why I’ll stay focused on delivering even better healthcare across our community, including the town centre’s free public health precinct and the new South Tuggeranong Health Centre in the Lanyon Valley.

 

 

Value: Connected Communities

I love playing for, coaching at and supporting many Tuggeranong sports clubs and cultural groups (even when it's freezing). I founded LAKESPEARE in 2017, which has put on seven seasons of Shakespeare by the Lakes - free, accessible, vibrant and fun performances of Shakespeare plays - and every season begins in Tuggeranong Town Park in front of 800 people.

 

I am in the Assembly to help Tuggeranong’s community groups increase their participation and improve their facilities every way I can – because that will make us, and our community fitter, better, faster and stronger.