Page 4764 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 10 November 2009
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We have got walk-in centres. We have won funding for the ACT integrated cancer care centre and we are moving forward with the improvements to services for women who have had breast cancer and are not eligible for breast screening services. We have had a significant report done into the GP workforce issues in the territory and we have provided $12 million for GP workforce initiatives, including scholarships, teaching incentives for GPs, junior doctor rotations, a GP development fund and an in-hours locum service. We have allocated $8.2 million for health workforce design. We have released the ACT Mental Health Services plan.
Alongside this, we have dealt with one of the biggest challenges to our health system this year, which has been our response to the H1N1 influenza pandemic. We established influenza assessment centres and, as of three weeks after the beginning of the program, 29,100 doses of vaccine had been delivered to vaccine providers.
Of course we continue to consult on the proposal for the future health needs of our community. This includes a quite significant change as outlined to Calvary and the arrangements at Clare Holland House. That consultation ends on 12 November and then the government will be considering the feedback that we have received before we make a decision on the way forward.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water, Minister for Energy and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (4.18): I am pleased to rise in this debate this afternoon to highlight the important issues before the Assembly in relation to the work of the government over the first year and the government’s energy and activity in relation to the work of the government.
Opposition members interjecting—
MR CORBELL: They do not like it because the government has a strong record of achievement. Of course, whenever the government raises its record of achievement, it is always, I imagine, in the interests of those who have little achievement to belittle it. Clearly that is what they have done in this case because they are not interested in the significant range of activities that the government has engaged in, in trying to serve the people of the ACT in fulfilment of its election commitments, in fulfilment of the need to continue to provide good government for the territory.
In the area of the environment of course, the sustainability agenda has been given a high priority by the Stanhope government. We have worked hard to ramp up our efforts on delivering a sustainable Canberra, facing the challenges of climate change for our community, because that is the clear message from the community from the last election. With the establishment of the Department of the Environment, Climate Change, Energy and Water, a large amount of work has been undertaken and significant achievements have been realised.
Of course the most important of these is the commencement of the feed-in tariff which I spoke about during question time earlier today. We now see 1,000 households and businesses across the territory with solar panel generating capacity on their roofs.
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