Today I have announced that I will be handing over the reins of the health portfolio, and take on different responsibilities.
I will retain the portfolio of mental health and wellbeing.
This handover will enable me to take an even greater interest in driving Tasmania’s economic growth and creating more jobs for Tasmanians.
The decision to hand over health is one that I have not taken lightly, but I do so knowing that our health system is in the best place it’s been for a long time, despite increasing demand.
I want to take this opportunity to let our nurses, doctors, allied health professionals and all the support staff know that it has been a privilege to be your Minister.
The work you do is as hard as it can be rewarding. You give everything, emotionally and physically, to help us. I appreciate you, and I thank you.
Our health system and our health professionals have been through hell and back over the past three years with COVID – they put their lives on the line for Tasmanians.
Impressively, despite these challenges, we were the only jurisdiction to actually decrease the elective surgery wait list during COVID.
Our Government now invests more than $8 million each and every single day.
We have allocated more than $12.1 billion over the next four years – or 34 per cent of the State’s total Budget because we know how important access to quality health care is for Tasmanians.
In fact, because of our record investment and commitment to drive down elective surgery waiting lists, we have reduced them by more than 30 per cent since 2021.
And our bold approach to establishing innovative initiatives are working, including:
- Our “no script no stress” initiative which is nation leading and helping hundreds of Tasmanians every day access their medication while easing pressure on GPs;
- The Allied Health Scholarship Program which is the most generous in the nation with a $25,000 incentive for 10 professions to fill shortages;
- Our Mental Health Emergency Response (PACER) which has already supported over 1,800 Tasmanians, with 76 per cent of those people remaining in the community and out of hospital;
- Our trial of a Single Employer Model of employment for GPs in training so that we can attract and retain GPs in regional Tasmania; and
- Our $475 million Digital Health Strategy which will be the single biggest transformation in healthcare this century.
While the job is far from done, I believe that now is the right time to hand the health portfolio over to someone else in my team.
I am confident that this momentum will continue under the next Minister and that Tasmanians will continue to see the significant improvements being made across the State.
I will make further announcements about changes to cabinet in the coming days. I won’t be changing the people within Cabinet, just making some small changes to the roles they are doing.
Our team is full of talented members and I am committed to ensuring that each of them are aligned to the important tasks ahead
