Page 3768 - Week 11 - Thursday, 24 November 2022
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
I present the following paper:
Health Workforce Wellbeing Update—Government response to resolution of the Assembly of 2 December 2020—Update—Ministerial statement, 24 November 2022.
I move:
That the Assembly take note of the paper.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
COVID-19 pandemic—economic and social recovery—update
Ministerial statement
MS DAVIDSON (Murrumbidgee—Assistant Minister for Families and Community Services, Minister for Disability, Minister for Justice Health, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Veterans and Seniors) (10.49): I am pleased today to share the new ACT COVID-19 Social Recovery Plan 2022-23 with the Assembly.
When my colleague Mr Braddock told me, a little over a year ago, that he wanted to move a motion relating to social recovery from COVID, one of his concerns was the difficulty of this kind of complex work, which requires true partnership between government and community. And it is difficult; I acknowledged that when we had that conversation. And then I said, “Hold my beer,” because I know that nothing worth doing is ever easy and that all of the best things we do as a society are done when government and community come together and work creatively, courageously and collaboratively.
The plan is an important resource which acknowledges the continuing social impacts of COVID-19 across our community, while highlighting existing ACT government-funded initiatives and programs underway, as well as those funded through the 2022-23 ACT budget. As Canberrans, we have each been individually impacted by COVID-19 to varying degrees over the course of the past three years.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been more than 200,000 COVID-19 positive cases in the ACT, with significant social and economic impacts. We continue to see new COVID-19 variants emerge, and we continue to see transmission, but we are in a different place today than we were in early-2020 in terms of our understanding of how to best protect those most at risk from the health impacts of this virus and the medical responses available, and in how to manage the economic and social impacts.
As the pandemic continues, we continue to invest in projects and programs to support our economic and social recovery, and we continue to provide health support that is targeted to those most at risk from this virus. I spoke about some of these measures to protect and support those most at risk from COVID in an executive motion in the August sitting week, and that work continues.
Canberra is a kind and interconnected community, and we look after each other when things are difficult. The ACT social recovery plan highlights a number of initiatives
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video