Page 2362 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 2 August 2017
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Minister for Health and Wellbeing—drug treatment briefing
MS LEE: My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. I refer to an article in the Canberra Times of 26 July this year in relation to a report on opioid treatment options that is five years overdue. You stated:
ACT Health has not briefed me directly on this matter.
Minister, before last week had ACT Health briefed anyone in your office about the five-year delay to the report, and what explanation did your directorate give for its oversight on this matter?
MS FITZHARRIS: I thank Ms Lee for the question. Not to my knowledge, in my office. As I have indicated previously this week, one of the reasons for the delay in reviewing the guidelines was the development of national guidelines which will inform, and have informed since those national guidelines were put in place, ongoing clinical treatment. I reiterate that the advice to me from Health is that the national guidelines and the existing ACT guidelines provide sufficient guidance to clinicians in their daily work.
I have expressed my disappointment with Health that these reviews were not undertaken in a timely way. They have assured me this week that they will be finalised within the next six weeks.
MS LEE: Minister, were you briefed, in your capacity as the then Assistant Minister for Health, about the delays to the report last year?
MS FITZHARRIS: No, I was not.
MRS DUNNE: Minister, did you seek any briefing on methadone treatment after the overdose of the prisoner at the AMC last year?
MS FITZHARRIS: I did receive a briefing after that incident last year.
Government—safer families policy
MR PETTERSSON: My question is to the Minster for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence. An important commitment of the safer families program of work was to co-design and pilot a family safety hub. Minister, can you provide an update on how this work is progressing?
MS BERRY: I thank Mr Pettersson for the question. Tackling domestic and family violence has been a key priority for the ACT government. We have been doing things differently than we have ever done before, and we are expecting the whole community to join with us and help us with this work. The co-design of the safety hub is progressing with considerable work already now being undertaken. The co-design
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