Page 2422 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 30 July 2019
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Originally, the select committee was to report to the Assembly on the last sitting day in 2018 but, due to the very large number of responses to the select committee’s call for submissions, and the community’s interest in participating in the public hearings, the due date was extended to allow the select committee further time to report. The select committee’s report was tabled in March 2019.
The committee reported that it had published 488 submissions and examined a number of others that were not published, at the submitter’s request. Additionally, the select committee heard from 87 witnesses at 10 public hearings. The sheer number of responses clearly demonstrates the very strong community interest in the choices that are already available, or may become available in the future, to everyone in the ACT as we inevitably reach the end of our lives. These are issues that affect every one of us.
The ACT government has now had the opportunity to respond to the report and I am pleased to be able to say that many of the report’s 24 recommendations are already being acted upon, or planning is in place.
The ACT government has agreed to the majority of the recommendations, in particular noting the activities being undertaken by the territory-wide end of life and palliative care project, established in July 2018. This project aims to provide high quality care, integrated across all service providers and settings, to people who are at the end of their lives, and to provide support to their families and carers.
I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the excellent work being done every day by clinicians and carers in the ACT and surrounding New South Wales, in private homes, hospitals, residential aged care facilities, respite facilities and palliative care facilities.
In closing, I thank all of those who contributed to this inquiry, particularly those who shared their personal stories in the hope that others might benefit, and all of the members of the Assembly who worked respectfully and collaboratively to deliver a useful and timely report.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (3.14): While I welcome the government’s response to the committee inquiry into the end of life, I must say that I was somewhat underwhelmed by the fervour of the commitments made by the government. There was pretty much a response that “There is nothing to see here; there is work already being done,” but not very much outlined about what that work was. In relation to palliative care and end of life planning, in relation to powers of attorney and similar documentation, I thought that the government’s response was minimalist and that much more could be done in this space.
There was a great deal of evidence received by the committee. The great bulk of the work in relation to the committee report related specifically to palliative care and initiatives in palliative care. For the minister to respond by saying, “We agree, and a whole lot of work is being done,” but not specifying what that work is does a disservice to the committee and the people in the community who have been clamouring for extended and better palliative care.
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