CARING FOR CANBERRANS WITH FREE AND
ACCESSIBLE HEALTHCARE
The Greens believe that every Canberran should have access to free, high quality healthcare when they need it.
But over a decade of neglect from the Commonwealth Government means that Medicare is not enough to cover visits to the doctor.
The cost of living crisis means too many Canberrans can’t afford to get the care they need.
The ACT Greens' goal is to provide a genuinely free universal healthcare system, because you shouldn't need more than a Medicare card to get the care you need.
JUMP TO: 160,000 Free Visits to the Doctor | Dedicated Centre for Neurodivergence | Free Emergency Ambulances | Free & Accessible Mental Healthcare | A Health System You Can Trust | Treating Drug Use as a Health Issue | A Freestanding Birth Centre for Canberra | End of Life Care
160,000 free doctor's appointments
Every Canberran should be able to see a doctor when they need to.
Over recent years, healthcare has gotten more and more unaffordable.
For many people, the first time they access free healthcare is in the emergency room, rather than at their doctors office.
THE ACT GREENS WILL:
- Establish four GP clinics (two northside, two southside), so Canberrans can access a doctor for free, closer to home
- Partner with interested GPs to develop their skills and expertise in specific conditions to provide ongoing, free, specialist care to people with long-term illnesses
Dedicated Centre for Neurodivergence
Every Canberran deserves to live a full and happy life.
But at the moment, thousands of people who are neurodivergent are waiting months - if not years - to get a diagnosis and the support they need to live their lives to the fullest.
That's why the ACT Greens will establish a dedicated centre that provides free information, support and assessments for people who are neurodivergent, and their families.
THE ACT GREENS WILL:
- Establish a Centre for Neurodivergence
- Provide free advice, support, assessment and diagnosis
- Connect peer groups with each other and with supports to improve their lives
Free Emergency Ambulances
On the worst day of your life, you shouldn't have to worry about money.
When you’re in an emergency and calling for an ambulance, you’re calling for an essential service. A responsible government does everything it can to support people who seek life-saving assistance.
Unfortunately, calling an ambulance for emergency treatment currently comes with a thousand-dollar price tag.
THE ACT GREENS WILL:
- Abolish the fees charged by the ACT Ambulance Service for emergency call-outs
- Support the Ambulance Service to focus on quality care, not debt collection
Free and Accessible Mental Healthcare
The Greens believe that everyone should have access to free, high quality healthcare close to home.
But at the moment, too many people only get access to help once they are in a crisis.
The ACT Greens have a plan to ensure that every Canberran has access to the mental health care they need to live a healthy, fulfilling and hopeful life.
THE ACT GREENS WILL:
- Deliver four new mental health walk in centres in Dickson, Molonglo, Gungahlin and Tuggeranong to form a network across all town centres, joining Belconnen centre and the future Garran centre.
- Establish a free perinatal mental health drop in centre co-located with a new perinatal mental health inpatient unit, where parent and bub can stay together
- Permanently fund early intervention youth mental health services WOKE and Stepping Stones
- Establish a dedicated drop in mental health centre for young people
- Deliver an integrated inpatient unit and a day program for eating disorders to support everyone at all levels of need - from early intervention to hospitalisation
- Provide a safe place for Police, Ambulance, Clinician Early Response (PACER) to take people who need temporary support away from home, but don’t need to go to hospital
- Transform our system to support people experiencing emotional distress, such as grief or loss, so they get support before reaching a crisis point and ending up in hospital or having suicidal ideations
A Health System You Can Trust
Every Canberran should feel confident our public health system can support them when and where they need it.
With the cost of living increasing, many people can’t afford private health insurance and rely on the public health system. And they should be able to.
You shouldn’t have to have private health insurance to get the care you need, when you need it.
Canberrans deserve a health system that they can rely on and have confidence in.
We need good care, transparency and accountability so our community chooses public health care by choice, and so the workforce chooses Canberra Health Services as the employer of choice.
THE ACT GREENS WILL:
- Establish a statutory independent board to improve governance of the ACT’s health system and improve health outcomes for our community
DRUG USE IS A HEALTH ISSUE
Every Canberran should have access to free, high-quality healthcare when they need it, to live a safe and healthy life.
But after decades of stigmatising drug use, too many people face barriers to seek health advice and care.
That’s why the ACT Greens will go further and faster to remove these barriers, treat drug use as a health issue and ensure people have access to services that literally save lives.
THE ACT GREENS WILL:
- Establish a supervised overdose prevention service
- Permanently fund Canberra’s fixed-site drug testing service, CanTEST
- Establish a peer-oriented care program for events and festivals
- Support Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations to deliver harm reduction programs
- Establish a peer support service in Canberra’s south
- Identify how to improve availability and diversity of opioid dependency treatments
- Establish a Harm Reduction Taskforce
- Support community health promotion activities
A Freestanding Birth Centre for Canberra
Pregnancy and birth are cherished life experiences. The ACT Greens want all women and pregnant people to have positive and fulfilling experiences through pregnancy, birth and parenting.
But not everyone feels empowered throughout their pregnancy and birth to advocate for the care and outcomes they want.
Most people see different doctors and midwives at each appointment - receiving different types of care from people who might not have all the information they need to provide the best options for you.
That’s why the ACT Greens will deliver more choices for women and pregnant people - to support them to get the care they want and to feel more empowered to advocate for their needs throughout pregnancy, birth and early parenting.
THE ACT GREENS WILL:
- Deliver Canberra’s first co-designed and midwife-led freestanding birth centre on the northside, fully separate to the hospital campus
- Expand access to midwife-led continuity of care to give everyone who wants it the ability to choose it.
AUTONOMY AND CHOICE IN END OF LIFE CARE
Death is a natural part of life. Everyone should have equitable access, agency and choice over their care so they can enjoy what’s left of their life as much as possible.
There is no one size fits all approach to end of life healthcare. With a growing and ageing population, we must scale up our whole health system to ensure people have options that are accessible and support them to have dignity in the last stages of their life.
The ACT Greens will go further and faster to expand end of life care choices that are more equitable, fair and accessible to give people the most fulfilling quality of life possible.
THE ACT GREENS WILL:
- Create a palliative model of care that is nation-leading and embedded across the hospital.
- Establish a paediatric palliative care service.
- Develop a palliative care workforce plan.
- Deliver community education resources and activities to destigmatise palliative care.
- Establish a clinical research team.
- Consider other approaches that enable people to access VAD after they have lost capacity.