A Shellharbour City Council motion calling on the Federal Government to commit a further 5% of its health budget to preventative health measures was unanimously supported at the National General Assembly of Local Government (NGA) in Canberra yesterday.
With less than 1% of the Federal health budget currently spent on preventative health, Shellharbour Mayor, Chris Homer said increasing the spend was one of the most important ways to improve community health.
“By intervening early, we know this will help to prevent the onset of chronic illness with leads to our hospital emergency departments and GP offices being unable to keep up with demand,” he said.
“This is something that can make a difference to people’s lives and to have support from our fellow local government mayors is absolutely amazing.”
More than 1,300 mayors, shire presidents and councillors from across the nation attended the 31st Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) assembly event in Canberra this week.
