Page 5739 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 6 December 2011
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We know that New South Wales patients make up a substantial portion of ACT Health patients, and the New South Wales government has not been forthcoming in providing full recompense to the ACT government for those services. We are keen to know what exactly the regional agreement recently signed between the ACT government and New South Wales has been. We really need to find out where we are going to be with health, because we know that those health needs are going to continue to grow in the region and that the ACT, with our hospitals and our other health services, plays such an important part of the response to the health needs of the region.
We also need to be looking at regional collaboration around residential developments. We are seeing increasingly a number of residential developments that are springing up or are being proposed right on the border between the ACT and New South Wales. We need to make sure that this is the right sort of development for the ACT and for the region. We need to ensure that we coordinate with local councils and the New South Wales government in addressing issues like roads, access, infrastructure, sewerage, utilities, water, emergency services, waste management. And the list goes on.
As people straddle the border on a daily basis, we need to ensure that we have firm and equitable arrangements for services, amenities and facilities such as schools, childcare, community health care and hospitals, public transport and more. This can be complex. We are the island within New South Wales but we very much need to be seen as an important partner in the story of collaboration that very much needs to ensure that we do the best by our region, not just economically but we do the best socially and environmentally as well. So we do support and thank Ms Porter for bringing this on today.
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Chief Minister, Minister for Health and Minister for Territory and Municipal Services) (4.26): I thank Ms Porter for raising this matter of public importance today. As Ms Porter mentioned, I did have the pleasure last week of joining with my New South Wales counterpart, Premier O’Farrell, to sign the ACT-New South Wales memorandum of understanding on regional collaboration.
The signing of this formal commitment to greater collaboration builds on a series of extremely cordial and productive conversations and meetings over recent months. During this period we have both been clear about the need to take the working relationship between our governments and our jurisdictions to a new level, a level that acknowledges the reality of Canberra’s place and role in the south-east region and also acknowledges the opportunities that await us as a region if we have the vision and the boldness to reach out.
Regional collaboration is nothing new, and it has evolved quite a bit in recent years. Back in 2006 a regional management framework was signed which established mechanisms for formal engagement on subjects like water, catchment management, settlement, infrastructure, economic development, service delivery and emergency services.
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