Page 2760 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 13 August 2019
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MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Mrs Dunne for the question. I have not had a chance to read through every document that has been released under FOI over the past few weeks, as there are many of them, so I take that with a slight grain of salt. Maybe there was no written communication. I cannot say for sure that the opposition’s characterisation of the situation is accurate. But I will take the detail of the question on notice and come back to the Assembly if there is further information to add.
MRS DUNNE: Minister, do you have plans to improve the communication between ACT Health and Canberra Health Services?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Mrs Dunne for the supplementary. On the basis of not taking the premise of the question as presented, I have been very clear with both the Director-General of the ACT Health Directorate and the CEO of Canberra Health Services that I expect good communication with me and with one another, and that we are all working together as part of a health system to deliver excellent health services to the people of Canberra when and where they are needed. That is what we will continue to do.
MISS C BURCH: Minister, what role do you have in ensuring that senior officials in your portfolio are advised of significant developments?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Miss Burch for the question. I see that the minister does have a strong role in ensuring that people are aware of what is going on. I note that I was not the minister at the time, so I am not able to comment on what conversations were or were not had at that time.
Government—services
MS ORR: My question is to the Chief Minister. Chief Minister, how will the government continue to support the Canberra community by guaranteeing public sector jobs as Canberra grows?
MR BARR: I thank Ms Orr for the question. As members are aware, our city is growing very rapidly. We are now home to around 430,000 people and we continue to grow at the rate of around two to three additional average Canberra suburbs worth of people each year. This is occurring because our quality of life and access to high quality public health, education, transport and city services are second to none in this nation and, indeed, according to the OECD, second to none in the world. These services are delivered by a strong public sector workforce of nurses, teachers, bus drivers and city rangers, amongst others, and as Canberra grows we must continue to hire more people to deliver these services to our growing city.
Through the budget we are debating in this sitting fortnight and future budgets the government will continue to invest in high quality public services for the people of Canberra. We will invest more in our public hospitals and public schools, our public transport network, our front-line emergency services and the broader ACT public service.
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