Page 465 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 17 February 2016
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housing and greening our city. These are the things I and previously my colleagues have been focused on, and that is what we believe the people of Canberra are interested in—a broad spectrum of issues. People know that every single day the government has a whole range of things to do. Certainly the government I have been a part of are taking on that full set of responsibilities every single day as we seek to create the best possible city for the future for Canberrans. We are taking the courageous decisions, the decisions that need to be taken in order to prepare this city for the future and deliver for our residents today.
I certainly disagree that this government is out of touch with what Canberrans want. In the time that I have been in the Assembly I have worked hard to ensure that we have listened to the community to represent their views in this place, to ensure that the government is hearing people’s issues and to make sure we are heading in the right direction. Since I have been a minister I have worked to improve community consultation on issues that I am progressing in my directorates, and I have been pleased to be able to take those views into account while developing policies and programs. It does make for better government when you listen to what the community is saying. You get great ideas and you are able to take the community with you as part of making reforms that need to be made.
If we look at some of the areas that have been touched on in this motion today, it is important not to simply take at face value the platitudes delivered by Mr Hanson but to look at the facts behind each of these areas of consideration. I will turn to a few of those. We have seen Mr Hanson suggesting that the government is neglecting the healthcare needs of Canberrans, and yet this is a government that is investing $1.5 billion in health care in this financial year alone. The government is investing in new hospital beds and services, new outpatient care and mental health care. It is investing in a secure mental health unit, caring for people in the community and at home, end-of-life care and drug rehabilitation programs and increasing services for women and children.
On the other hand, the Liberals have not been standing up for the health needs of Canberrans when it comes to federal health funding cuts. Due to changes to the way that health funding to the states and territories is being calculated, future health funding will decrease substantially in the outyears by almost $50 million in 2018-19, meaning that the ACT government needs to look for a way to plug that gap.
This government is also now focusing on preventative health and healthier lifestyles for Canberrans. We know that if we invest in people and support them in actively looking after their health through healthy lifestyles and diets we can save substantial funds from chronic and acute healthcare needs in the future. The Greens are pleased that this government has been able to develop the healthy weight initiative in line with our parliamentary agreement item as a key focus not just in ACT Health but across the government, from programs in schools, delivering more walking and cycling paths and delivering water fountains across Canberra. Members will have seen the water refill stations at the Multicultural Festival which are part of this initiative.
The 2015 budget presented a responsible balance of preventative, chronic and acute spending that responded to the significant reduction in commonwealth health funding
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