Page 1821 - Week 05 - Thursday, 16 May 2019
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MS BERRY: If Mr Milligan is getting feedback from sports communities that are having difficulties with access to indoor sports facilities then the best action for him to take is to refer those organisations to sport and rec in the ACT who will be able to source alternative venues and they will be able to assist those organisations to ensure that they have a place for sport and recreation.
MS LE COUTEUR: Minister, I am also getting complaints from constituents, particularly in Murrumbidgee, about—
Mrs Jones: Preamble!
MS LE COUTEUR: Sorry. I am also getting these complaints, and they have been in contact with your office but they are not finding responses. Where are the additional facilities in Woden?
MS BERRY: The additional facilities that have been made available have been part of a program of works between sport and recreation and education ACT to upgrade school facilities to allow for sports organisations to use those facilities outside of school hours. For example, the Woden Dodgers basketball club now uses the Alfred Deakin school hall, and the hall at the Hedley Beare centre for education was also upgraded and its facilities are available for sports clubs to use.
Health—flu season
MRS DUNNE: My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. I refer to reports in the media on 8 May and elsewhere that the 2019 flu season is expected to be one of the worst on record, with up to 40,000 influenza notifications already. That number is three times the number at the same time last year. Experts are warning that this coming flu season could be as bad as or worse than 2017. Queensland has already recorded 25 influenza deaths so far this year. Minister, what is your advice on the upcoming flu season and what is your advice about the capacity problems that the hospitals in Canberra may face because of the upcoming flu season?
MS FITZHARRIS: I am not sure if Mrs Dunne is referring to the advice to me or the advice that I would give but either way I would certainly, in terms of the community preparing for the flu season, encourage everybody to have a flu shot. As with last year when we introduced a new flu shot for young children between the ages of six months and five years—that was part of our efforts to prevent influenza across the ACT—we are also working very closely with community pharmacies on extending their access to the provision of a number of different vaccinations, including the flu vaccination for the members of our community who are over 65, who now have a separate flu shot that is more effective for those members of our community.
We certainly also have the ACT Health winter action plan and Canberra Health Services and Calvary Public Hospital doing their work annually to implement the flu season plan and the winter bed strategy. That work is well underway. As has been noted in the media, there has been a slight increase from last year. We are carefully monitoring it, as we do every year. The advice to me is that planning for the winter
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