Page 1595 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 12 May 2015
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Health—funding
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Attorney-General, Minister for Health, Minister for the Environment and Minister for Capital Metro) (11.24): I move:
That this Assembly:
(1) notes that:
(a) the delivery of well-funded health services has real, positive impacts on the lives of ACT residents;
(b) the ACT Government delivers a world-class health care system and continues to prioritise the improvement of this system;
(c) since 2001, the ACT Government increased expenditure on health services by 195 percent, from $472 million to $1.393 billion in the current financial year;
(d) the 2014–2015 Commonwealth Budget unilaterally walked away from the National Health Reform Agreement (NHRA);
(e) in the first four years following NHRA arrangements ceasing in 2017-2018, the ACT will lose more than $154 million in public hospital support from the Commonwealth;
(f) the Commonwealth’s unilateral decision to move away from activity-based funding (ABF) to a reintroduced form of Special Purpose Payment (SPP) arrangements from 2017-2018 will have a major impact on the ACT budget; and
(g) moving from ABF to SPP arrangements will not reflect the high level of complex health service provision undertaken in the ACT as a result of an ageing population, an increase in complex chronic conditions and complex service provision provided to cross-border patients seeking treatment in the ACT; and
(2) calls on the Commonwealth Government to reinstate funding amounts equivalent to that as was agreed to under the National Health Reform Agreement.
Last week this place discussed as a matter of public importance the importance of a well-funded health system. During that debate, the government put forward a broad range of reasons that support the need to ensure that governments fund health services for a growing community. We made the point last week that a well-funded health system results in a healthier community and a more productive economy. We also noted the importance that Australians and Canberrans place on their ability to access health services in an equitable manner.
Australians value their public hospital and health system. In survey after survey, they rank access to high quality health services at the top of the list of issues that are
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