Page 3362 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 19 October 2022
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managing smoke from significant bushfire events and household
wood fires;
(c) on 8 June 2022, Johnathan Davis MLA successfully moved a motion in the Legislative Assembly calling on the ACT Government to reform the Wood Heater Replacement Scheme to increase uptake of the scheme, improve access to the scheme and remove upfront costs for the scheme, especially for low-income households;
(d) the ACT Government joined the Global Healthy Hospitals Network in 2021, a worldwide group of hospitals and health facilities that are committed to sustainable healthcare operations, including reduced emissions;
(e) the ACT Climate Change Strategy 2019-2025 includes a commitment to establish and implement a pathway to a zero emissions ACT Government health sector by 2040 informed by an assessment of all current and planned public health facilities; and
(f) the ACT Greens took a commitment to the 2020 election to include a right to a healthy environment in our ACT Human Rights Act. On 27 February 2022, Jo Clay MLA successfully moved a motion in the Legislative Assembly calling on the ACT Government to investigate the inclusion of a right to a healthy environment into the Human Rights Act 2004; and
(3) calls on the ACT Government to:
(a) ensure that public health services are adequately prepared for the impacts of climate change;
(b) ensure that the ACT Government brings a proposal to the National Council of Australian Governments (or equivalent) for a national strategy on climate, health, and wellbeing for Australia;
(c) develop an ACT Government climate change preparedness strategy for the ACT public health sector, ensuring that the sector recognises and responds to climate change risks to the health of patients, the delivery of care, infrastructure, service provision, the health workforce, and supply chains. This includes continued work on the impact of smoke on air quality;
(d) ensure that ACT Health collects and reports on data to monitor progress against resilience indicators, including continuation of the longitudinal survey and climate-related health impacts and costs; and
(e) report back to the Legislative Assembly by the last sitting of 2023.
The goal of a cafe or a shop or any other business is to get more customers. But the goal of a hospital is to have as few customers as possible.
There are many things that the government does to try to keep people out of hospital. We have provided alternatives like walk-in clinics and telehealth services. We have created public awareness campaigns around health choices like wearing sunscreen, eating vegetables and reducing alcohol consumption. We ensure that our water is pathogen-free, our sewage is treated and our bins are emptied often. We train our doctors, nurses and ancillary health staff to a very high standard. They are all good things, but not enough, especially when we are talking about the climate change future that is now, to a certain extent, locked in.
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