Page 3470 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 23 November 2021
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years for continuation of the ACT Drug and Alcohol Court, $260,000 for a fixed pill testing pilot, delivering on our election commitment, $982,000 to reduce harm from addiction and overdoses, including expanding the existing needle and syringe program,
and $803,000, including capital grant funding, for the commencement of work on the redevelopment of the Watson health precinct. This includes $503,000 for Winnunga Nimmityjah, for preliminary design of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residential alcohol and other drug rehabilitation facility—delivering on our election commitment.
Our election commitments were, in large part, about recognising that one of the ways that we provide better care for consumers, better support for carers and families and reduce the pressure on our hospitals is by delivering better care closer to home in the community. The government is also investing to keep people closer to home and support them in the community, building on the key initiatives in the 2020-21 budget.
To support better care in the community, the government is committing an additional $17.3 million over four years, including $16 million to expand services through Clare Holland House hospice. This initiative will provide additional beds at Clare Holland House, and it also funds more home-based palliative care services. This builds on the 2020-21 budget measure to deliver Leo’s Place with Palliative Care ACT, helping people to stay at home for longer as they get towards the end of their lives.
$913,000 was included in this budget over four years to address unmet need in sexual health support for people with disability—delivering on our election commitment, and closing a gap that was, unfortunately, created with the NDIS failing people with disability in support for access to appropriate sexual health education and support. And $360,000 has been committed for the implementation of the LGBTIQ+ scoping study recommendations, including prioritising the development of a gender-focused, peer-led health service—again, delivering on Labor’s election commitment.
As I mentioned earlier, this budget invests significantly in improving Canberra’s health infrastructure. The budget continues our ambitious health infrastructure plan. It sets out a plan for continuous health infrastructure build and investment, with new hospital infrastructure, renewal of critical existing buildings, new community infrastructure, and delivering on the commitments we made and the plans that we set out at the last election.
The budget includes almost $550 million over the forward estimates to continue to deliver the Canberra Hospital expansion—the biggest investment in health infrastructure since self-government. But it also includes $32.7 million to support a range of infrastructure upgrades at Calvary Public Hospital, while we spend $13½ million for the continuation of planning and design works for a new north-side hospital, bringing modern hospital services closer to the growing and ageing north- side population and beginning delivery of Labor’s election commitment.
The budget also includes $7 million for the construction of a cancer research centre at the Canberra Region Cancer Centre at Canberra Hospital—again, delivering on our election commitment to ensure that we are embedding research and training in our hospital system, becoming a truly learning health system, and ensuring that the
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