Page 184 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 14 February 2018
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As I outlined in my speech earlier for the benefit of some members, we are also improving emergency and general medicine facilities for the community. We are reducing wait times, increasing bed numbers and improving accessibility. We are upgrading our hospitals and creating a new, dedicated rehabilitation hospital at UC. We are opening new walk-in centres and building facilities for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. Needless to say, our investment is comprehensive.
We are not only looking at health infrastructure, though. As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That is why we have specifically committed funding for new resources for preventive health services. This funding is in addition to new annual health and wellbeing checks for all year 7 students to identify and treat issues earlier as our kids move into adolescence. We will also have new school-based immunisation programs and will participate in the pre-exposure prophylaxis HIV prevention trial to help high-risk people stay HIV free.
Finally, we are committed to keeping Canberra on the cutting edge of medical research. Advances in gene-based medicine will revolutionise how we diagnose and treat illness, and Canberra is helping us to get there. I spoke earlier about participation in the molecular screening therapeutics trial and our work in collaboration with the ANU to establish a clinical genomics service. I think the future of medicine will inspire awe and wonder at its ability to see and respond to our genetic makeup. I am very proud of the fact that this government is investing in that future.
Something I think we in this room probably can all agree on is that nothing is more important than our health and our wellbeing. I think I can speak for most people when I say that other issues in life pale into insignificance when we or a loved one fall seriously ill.
As a government, it is our responsibility to ensure that Canberrans have access to the best medical facilities and services to help them get back on their feet when sickness strikes, now and into the future. We are investing across the breadth of health services in the ACT to ensure that they are top notch and I have no doubt that our health system will continue to serve our community to the highest possible standard.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
ACTION bus service—route changes
MS LEE (Kurrajong) (4.25): I move:
That this Assembly:
(1) notes that:
(a) a number of bus routes throughout Canberra have been altered or cancelled from 9 October 2017;
(b) this change was done without any proper consultation with regular commuters or residents in the area that rely on these bus services;
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