Page 953 - Week 03 - Thursday, 21 March 2019
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We heard the minister speak of the good work that is being done in so many areas, and that is even evident from the experience that many in the community and many members of this place have had. I will speak of a recent experience where a relative of mine was in a hospital. The nursing staff and doctors treating her were first-class. But when comments such as these are made, “You’re fit to be discharged but we will not discharge you for fear that you have a relapse and we will not have a bed for you,” it is evidence of the systemic failures at the management level inside ACT Health.
Front-line staff are doing all that they can with their hands tied behind their back. To think that we have a hospital system that is reluctant to discharge patients for fear that they may need to be returned to a hospital setting and there is no space for them; that speaks volumes about the culture and the management failures presided over by this minister.
The minister is also quick to throw accusations back at the opposition, saying that not once have we put forward a policy idea. It is probably worth noting how far out we are from the next ACT election. If she was actually paying attention, just a couple of weeks ago the opposition released our policies on improving the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the ACT. It is a document which includes initiatives across a broad spectrum of areas, initiatives focused on improving not only health but also personal, social and justice outcomes for our Indigenous community.
If she took the time to look at what we were doing, and what we are offering as an alternative, she would have noticed that we are going to provide more cultural awareness training for health service providers across the ACT. We are going to be using sport as an innovative way of improving healthy lifestyles for young kids in our school settings.
Most prominently in the health space, we are going to fix the absolute debacle that this government has presided over in the Aboriginal drug and alcohol rehabilitation space. You only need to look at this week’s City News to get some external commentary on that policy and that policy outcome. Madam Speaker, for the benefit of the minister and all other members, I seek leave to table a copy of the policy document.
Leave granted.
MR WALL: I present the following paper:
Improving the Lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples of the ACT, prepared by the Canberra Liberals.
The main crux of what I want to touch on and raise is with respect to issues around infrastructure. We have heard of the cultural failings, the management failings and the capacity failings that this minister has presided over. There are also failures in the maintenance and management of infrastructure. The minister has been either the health minister or the Assistant Minister for Health for three years. Since then, hospital infrastructure, especially at the Canberra Hospital, has continued to
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