Page 4934 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 28 November 2018
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otherwise. Every single one of us gets consistent community feedback because our community recognise us. They see us in the supermarkets; they see us when we are doing mobile offices; they see us at a range of public events, and people are very forthcoming with their feedback.
We know that people will have different views and that some people’s experiences will be different. But I meet a lot of people who say they have very good experiences with ACT Health. I also get letters, as the minister, from constituents who are concerned and feel something has gone wrong. They give feedback on areas that need improvement. I take those matters very seriously. I look at each of them very closely and I frequently seek feedback from Health, and not just to prepare the ministerial response. Those letters frequently lead to a conversation to seek further information and the like. For the opposition to say the minister does not care and that the government does not care and is not listening to the community is simply not true. It suits their political narrative, but it is not the case.
We have seen a series of motions from Mrs Dunne this year, when she has sought to raise a range of issues on occasions. Yesterday she made an observation along the lines of: “It is really urgent that we do this because these matters need to be brought before the Assembly.” These matters have been brought before the Assembly frequently by Mrs Dunne this year and she has had plenty of opportunity to raise them. I am very happy to respond to them yet again today.
As has been touched on already in the debate, a range of important reforms are going on in ACT Health. These include things like: the territory-wide health services planning; the data review, which is giving us better data and better capability in this space and which will lead to significant improvements across a range of outcome areas; the independent external culture review; and significant investments in our emergency departments and elective surgery programs, as Minister Fitzharris outlined in her comments earlier.
In the mental health space, we have seen a range of enhancements to existing services, as well as new services coming online. Over the last two budgets there has been increased investment in mental health, more services have been provided, and new and better services are being provided.
In terms of the newer services that have come on stream, there are some excellent examples which I would like to reflect on. The first is the recently launched partnership with the Black Dog Institute on the life span suicide prevention program. The ACT government is investing $1.5 million in this program, which takes an updated approach to tackling suicide. There are nine components to it, and the Black Dog Institute have been excellent partners on this. I am very pleased to see this program rolling out in the ACT because there is an upward trend in suicide in Australia. This is challenging all governments across the country, and we must be open to taking new approaches to tackling this very difficult issue that is afflicting our community.
The government has supported Menslink to expand their counselling services to 10 to 12-year-old boys. We did this because Menslink told us that this is an area they see as
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