Page 4135 - Week 13 - Thursday, 2 December 2021
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Canberra Health Services work to deliver exceptional health care to the ACT community and the surrounding region every single day of the year. I particularly want to acknowledge those people who will be working over the Christmas and new year period, at the end of this very busy and difficult year. Similarly, I acknowledge those people at Calvary Public Hospital, and at all of our community partners, such as QEII, and other organisations that are providing health services throughout the year and during this period.
I acknowledge the team at Major Projects Canberra, led by Director-General Duncan Edghill. This year, of course, we broke ground on the critical services building, the centrepiece of the Canberra Hospital expansion and the largest health infrastructure investment since self-government. We are making great progress on that really complex project.
This week, of course, thanks to the ACT Health Directorate and the team there, led by Liz Lopa, we announced and launched the Canberra Hospital master plan. That is a really exciting development for Canberra, and Liz’s team also continues to work on the north side hospital.
Across the rest of the ACT Health Directorate, I want to acknowledge the former Director-General, Kylie Jonasson, who led through so much of the pandemic, current Director-General Rebecca Cross, the Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerryn Coleman, her deputy, Vanessa Johnston, and all of the team who have overshadowed the rest of the work of the Health Directorate in the response to COVID-19. The rest of the directorate does incredible work as well, which should not be forgotten.
This year, the ACT had our most significant outbreak of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and the team really swung into action and was central to the whole government effort that kept Canberrans safe.
I particularly want to acknowledge Vanessa Dal Molin, the Executive Branch Manager in the Office of the Chief Health Officer. As many people would know, she has managed the exemptions process, the directions process and so many other key things to keep our community going during this lockdown and throughout the pandemic. I hope that Vanessa will get a break over Christmas, as I hope is the case for the rest of the team as well.
To all of the staff across all of the directorates that report to me, thank you for your work. I know it is ongoing and I know how important it is, and I am sure everyone else here does as well.
I want to thank the Office of the Legislative Assembly staff, who kept this place ticking over, as the Chief Minister and others have acknowledged, during, again, very difficult times.
I join the Chief Minister in thanking the Canberra community for staying home, for staying safe, for getting vaccinated and for helping us to get to a point where we are working towards COVID-normal.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video