Page 805 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 2018
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so that Canberrans can have a real choice in deciding whether and when they want to have kids. We are also committed to reviewing those to improve them.
We are conscious that you cannot be what you cannot see. Having women in leadership positions has so many benefits: overall performance of institutions improves with the benefit of diversified experience and skills; institutions become more female-friendly; and, importantly, women find themselves aiming for the top because they can see someone like themselves sitting up there. In both sport and business we are encouraging Canberra organisations to aim for better female representation on boards. We have set targets of 50 per cent female representation on government-appointed boards and sporting bodies funded through our triennial agreements, as you heard yesterday, will be required to meet 40 per cent female board membership by 2020.
We recognise that meeting women’s specific health needs is a precursor for their full participation in our community, and so we are delivering on women’s health care and will carry out a $70 million expansion of the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children over the next four years. The centenary hospital is a purpose-built facility located on the Canberra Hospital campus. It brings together several important women’s health services, including neonatology, gynaecology, maternity, paediatric, nutrition services and multidisciplinary teams focusing on women’s health such as physiotherapists, dieticians and social workers.
As well as collocating to better serve the women of Canberra and fostering networks between disciplines, the hospital seeks to support women’s and children’s emotional wellbeing with a large playground and therapeutic garden available for their use. The hospital has been a great success, and in the 2017 budget we announced $70 million for its expansion. The hospital will grow to include more maternity beds and more paediatric high-dependency unit beds. New services will also be introduced, including a new paediatric intensive care treatment space, an adolescent gynaecology service and child and adolescent sleep labs. The hospital will continue to help women and girls to be mentally and physically healthy so that they can continue to participate freely in our community.
The government also recently announced a $2.6 million refurbishment of the maternity unity at Calvary Public Hospital in Bruce, and I was delighted to attend the announcement of this with the minister. These funds will increase maternity beds by 20 per cent and provide new look maternity suites and extra rooms for clinical assessments and breakout areas. We are also opening new nurse-led walk-in centres in Gungahlin and Weston Creek as well as a healthcare centre in the inner north. These centres will provide accessible, professional care for the women and girls of our city so that they are able to get their health needs met.
Of course, Madam Assistant Speaker, as you would well know, one of the most important health and life choices a woman will ever make is whether and when she would like to have children. Having a child or additional children can impact a person’s health, education and career outcomes. Having a family can be an immensely fulfilling choice, but it is not the only choice. We have established over previous decades that women are fully autonomous and competent individuals. Honestly, the
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