Page 5214 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 29 November 2017
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Civic is too expensive—have kids struggling at school and at home because they do not have basic mental health services.
These are the things I am concerned about. While we all have a great advantage in living in this great city, we need to remember that not everyone is as advantaged as we blessed few are and that many of our constituents are doing it tough. It could be in in relation to housing affordability, mental health for themselves or their children, being able to get into hospital in a timely fashion or being able to see a doctor in an emergency room. Today we see again figures showing that we are failing to provide the sorts of services you can get across the border in half the time.
I thank Mr Pettersson for an opportunity to talk again about nurse-led walk-in centres. I refer members again to the answer to the question that I put on notice earlier this year in relation to the cost of nurse-led walk-in centres. In answer to my question the minister told the Assembly that the average cost of a presentation to a walk-in centre is $188.19. That is an improvement, because in 2011 it was $196. So there has been some improvement, but it is a long way north of the cost of a bulk-billed service in a clinic provided, for instance, by the National Health Co-op at $37.
These are not just my criticisms; one of my constituents, an esteemed general practitioner, has written at length about the failure of the business model of the nurse-led walk-in centres and the fact that they are now actively in competition with general practice and that there are ads encouraging people to attend nurse-led walk-in centres instead of seeing a GP and that this will eventually undermine good primary health care in the ACT. At this stage I have to echo the concerns of my constituent, this GP, when he complains about the poor business model and the poor use of taxpayers’ money at $188.19 per visit.
So members opposite can pat themselves on the back and talk about how hip and cool they are, but my constituents in west Belconnen and in Belconnen more generally do not necessarily relish paying $188 for somebody else to visit a nurse-led walk-in centre when they are already paying to visit a doctor or are already availing themselves of bulk-billed services. My constituents in west Belconnen and across the ACT do not think very highly of a government that promises the world in relation to mental health but has not delivered on an individual basis for some of the most vulnerable people in the ACT.
MS CHEYNE (Ginninderra) (11.05): It is with great pride that I rise today to speak about Canberra, my city soulmate. It has been an incredible year to represent the people of Ginninderra and this city. We have seen progress and development across every sector, and it is indeed a very exciting time to be a “Canbassador”. As someone who has long championed Canberra, not only to Canberrans but to our broader community across Australia, through my blog In the Taratory and my social media channels, I was stoked but not surprised to learn of the recognition that Lonely Planet gave us just a few weeks ago.
It is hard to believe that the year is already coming to a close, and, in case anyone needs reminding, Christmas is just around the corner. I can testify to how quickly time travels in this place, and sometimes it can be difficult to remember exactly everything
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