David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to continue to raise concerns about health care here in the ACT. Currently, over half of people on the public waitlist for orthopaedic surgery have waited longer than they should have in Canberra. In Canberra, it will set you back $193 for a 60-minute appointment with a psychiatrist. In Victoria, the average is just $93. Bulk-billing rates to see a GP are still at an all-time low, at 56 per cent, with an average of $60. The bulk-billing rate for an MRI has absolutely plummeted here in Canberra, from 80 per cent a couple of years ago to around 40 per cent, the lowest in the country. We need to do better for Canberrans, and I urge the Labor government: you made some great promises when it comes to Medicare—90 per cent of GP visits being bulk-build. That has to apply to the ACT, and we need specific plans to deal with the workforce shortages and the other challenges here in Canberra.

On the west of Canberra, we have almost 10,000 hectares of undeveloped land—the western edge. It's a beautiful area that is really high in biodiversity and Ngunnawal history. It is owned by the government and contains box gum woodland temperate grasslands. Only a couple of percent, and sometimes less, of temperate grasslands is left in this country. There is an incredible opportunity for people in the ACT to work with First Nations people to develop something great and actually set aside the western edge for First Nations management and for future generations of Canberrans to enjoy. There's a movie night on Tuesday 7 October at 7 pm at the Vault, on Dairy Road, where The Western Edge, a film I worked on with a local filmmaker, will be shown. I encourage Canberrans to come along.