Page 3952 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 29 November 2022

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(b) reduced available beds against the 2011 Capital Asset Plan by 150 beds between 2015-16 and 2020-21;

(d) has overseen the worst emergency department wait times in the country since 2017-18 according to the Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services;

(3) acknowledges the Commonwealth Labor Government:

(a) has reduced public hospital funding by $775.4 million in 2022-23; and

(b) will cut $2.4 billion in funding to public hospitals over the next four years; and

(4) calls on the ACT Government to:

(a) report to the Assembly by the end of the first sitting week of 2023 about why it has cut health funding since 2015-16;

(b) reverse their real cuts to health funding;

(c) write to the Federal health minister requesting a reversal of the Commonwealth’s proposed cuts to public hospital funding; and

(d) table the letter to the Federal health minister in the Assembly by the end of the first sitting week of 2023.

I rise today to speak about the devastation the Labor-Greens government has inflicted on the ACT’s health system due to years of underfunding and neglect. When I was appointed shadow health minister, I met with health stakeholders to learn about their issues and concerns. Time and time again, what I kept hearing from people who have worked for years in our territory’s health system is that the system is broken. And that assessment has not changed. In fact, if anything, the system is getting worse, with our valued nurses and doctors leaving in droves and more planning to quit.

Let us look at what some of our key health stakeholders have said about the ACT health system. Steve Robson, the president of the Australian Medical Association said during an ABC radio interview last month on 28 October, “One of the things we know is if you look at the metrics by which we judge health care, Canberra is not doing well. They, Canberrans, have long waits for emergency care and long waits for operations compared to other states.” A Canberra Times article about Dr Abhayaratna, the ACT AMA president, on 26 May last year, shortly after he was appointed to the role, states:

Dr Walter Abhayaratna used to think that Canberra's health system could be among the world's best … but lately, he's been increasingly worried it’ll never make the cut.

These are damning comments from experienced and respected doctors who know Canberra’s health system well, experts reflecting on the deep concerns of their medical colleagues for our embattled health system and hospital system.

Another key stakeholder in Canberra’s health system is Matthew Daniel, the branch secretary of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation. He has not been

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