Page 5221 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 27 October 2010
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for the service. So collectively, using their free time, this group of people sought the expertise, support and materials to see this co-op established. If you take, for example, the medical goods needed to furnish the surgical room, some of the team went around to those GP practices that were closing down and were able to buy things like unused bandages at low cost rates.
The west Belconnen co-op has held up the Westgate Health Co-op in Victoria as a successful and best-practice model. That co-op was first established in 1980 in response to a shortage of bulk-billing GPs. Today the co-op has over 5,000 members and operates two centres. It provides not just GP services, but also dentistry, physiotherapy, acupuncture, naturopathy, audiology and psychology.
The co-op has also established an important community development role by providing other services such as voluntary transport, free counselling and a casserole bank provided to sick patients, particularly mothers. The co-op was also instrumental in developing learning for life, a community craft and learning program. Westgate health is not just a health centre, but also a great source of social capital within the local community. If we here in the ACT are to adequately respond to the closure of a number of GP practices, we must consider supporting the establishment of more company-ops into the future.
Going to the specifics of Mrs Dunne’s motion, the Greens support all items contained in paragraphs (1) and (2) and have some amendments to paragraphs (3) and (4). With regard to paragraph (1), I recently received an update from the west Belconnen co-op and agree that it has made excellent progress. The achievements listed by Mrs Dunne in paragraph (2) reflect those facts that I, too, was provided with when I received the latest letter that Mrs Dunne has tabled.
Mr Speaker, at this point I move my amendments. Going to paragraph (3), the Greens do not support the original proposal, as it turns the content of the motion into what we believe is a political contest. We would prefer to focus on the community, and detail the funding that was provided by the government to the West Belconnen Health Co-op and the processes that were used to provide that funding, because that reference provides a benchmark for the manner in which the government should provide support to other community groups that might be interested in setting up a health co-op.
The Greens’ amendment to paragraph (3) also proposes that the Assembly acknowledge a recommendation that was made by the health committee through its primary healthcare inquiry. The recommendation was:
The Committee recommends that the ACT Government monitor the progress of the West Belconnen Health Cooperative and, if it proves to be successful, provide information and support to community groups interested in establishing a health cooperative, or a similar model in their local community.
The government response to this recommendation was disappointing, as it did not provide the commitment that was sought by the community. The government commented through its response that it does not routinely monitor the progress of
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