Page 2206 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 2 August 2022
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Investing in the wellbeing of Canberrans
We are the first jurisdiction in Australia, and one of the first in the world, to embed a wellbeing framework in our budget process.
This budget puts community wellbeing at the centre of decision-making, and the benefits are obvious.
This is the third ACT budget since the wellbeing framework was released. Embedding the Wellbeing Framework in the budget process has improved consideration of the types and distribution of impacts that initiatives will have across the community.
The wellbeing dashboard and the indicators that sit behind it are progressively improving our understanding of where further targeted assistance is most needed.
The wellbeing framework is also helping the government measure progress and assisting us in making the best decisions on which investments and programs are going to contribute to our quality of life. It is helping to make our city more inclusive and to ensure we are prepared for new challenges and can grasp the opportunities that present themselves.
Health
The budget includes a boost in services across the health portfolio. There is $390 million in new investment. This is the largest area of expenditure in the budget—$2.2 billion.
Through this investment, our public hospitals are funded to deliver 60,000 elective surgeries over this term of government, and we are funding an additional 900 endoscopies each year for the next two years.
Our significant investment in public healthcare means: better mental health and early intervention support; specific initiatives to strengthen community-based and public health responses; better equipment and facilities for our healthcare workers; strengthened alcohol, drug and suicide prevention programs; and more support for young people, women, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Through this budget, we also deliver on our commitment to employ 400 additional health care workers—two years ahead of schedule.
We will continue to work with staff and their unions to ensure our health services are positive places to work, so they can do what they do best—delivering high-quality health care for Canberrans and the broader region.
Additionally, the government is investing a further $30.6 million in the ACT Ambulance Service—hiring 30 new staff, including extended care paramedics, and adding two new front-line ambulance vehicles.
Canberrans can trust that we will continue to invest in our healthcare system as our city grows. We invested heavily during the worst of the pandemic, and this budget demonstrates that we will continue to invest.
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