Page 2030 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 7 June 2017
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services for primary school aged children from five to 12 years. The adult Dhulwa mental health unit will be expanded, through an investment of $13.8 million, to deliver new rehabilitation beds in the secure mental health unit.
We know that a healthy community ensures economic prosperity, productivity and overall greater quality of life. This is why it is essential that we invest in acute care and secondary care services, but we must continue to invest in preventative health measures. A key part of our 10-year health plan was developing a preventative health strategy. I was delighted to be involved in the initial discussions at the Preventative Health Forum in April. In the 2017 budget, there is an investment of $4 million over four years to deliver key initiatives and innovation in preventative health which will address risk factors associated with poor health outcomes, in particular the burden of chronic disease.
This budget delivers in our health system across so many areas, whether it is better dental care in the community, with $3.2 million for two additional mobile dental vans to provide treatment closer to home for those who need it, or the government’s initiative to employ more graduate nurses and nurse navigators to help patients better understand and access services available through the health system and increase the nursing and midwifery scholarship fund.
The ACT government’s 10-year health plan, funded through this budget, will renew our city’s health services. It is an investment in the wellbeing and health of our community, and comes on top of the work we have already done in expanding the emergency department at Canberra Hospital and the work we are doing in building a new teaching hospital at the University of Canberra. This budget has demonstrated our government’s commitment to health care. I thank Ms Cody for bringing forward this motion and commend it to the Assembly.
MS CHEYNE (Ginninderra) (5.02): It gives me great pleasure to rise today to talk about the ACT government’s commitment to providing better support for a healthier community. Our health is everything. I am sure all of us here know the simple but intense pleasure of finally feeling better after an extended period of illness—and I hope that Ms Cody feels this pleasure soon—and the renewed appreciation of just being able to go about your day unhindered. When we get struck down by injury or illness we often rely on medical professionals to help us mend, whether we have a niggling infection, a broken bone or we need to go in for surgery. We put our hope and trust in the healthcare system. That is why the Labor government is committed to delivering better care when and where our community needs it.
The government has made a significant investment in health over recent years, laying the groundwork for the comprehensive health initiatives announced in yesterday’s budget. The 2017 budget delivers on our election commitments to provide even better support for a healthier community. The budget invests $1.6 billion right across the health sector, from better health infrastructure in our hospitals to better health care in our suburbs and preventative health measures. We will see new services and programs while existing projects will also come to fruition. Existing hospitals will be expanded and improved. The new University of Canberra public hospital will come online and
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