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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Tim Piccione

Free access to period products to be expanded under re-elected Labor govt

Free period products are set to be available in more places around the ACT under a re-elected Labor government, the party has promised.

ACT Labor has announced it plans to expand access to essential period products if it wins Saturday's election.

A spokesperson said products would be available in places like libraries, sports pavilions and more ACT government facilities.

"Labor has always fought for the rights and opportunities of women in the ACT," they said.

The territory was the second place in the world to enshrine free period products into law when it did so in 2023.

ACT Labor backbencher Suzanne Orr, who introduced the bill. Picture by Keegan Carroll

Labor backbencher Suzanne Orr introduced the bill, which was based on a model created by Scotland.

"Not feeling like you can talk about periods freely and openly creates that stigma and the only way we change that is to bring the conversation wide out into the public," Ms Orr said in 2021.

The territory legislation included community services and hospitals as places of access and was targeted at those experiencing period poverty.

Its promised expansion has been announced as part of ACT Labor's Women's Plan.

"In our last term, we delivered real change," the Labor spokesperson said.

"We made medical and surgical abortions free. We worked to support more women back into the workforce and provided record investment into our response to domestic and family violence."

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