DEFIBRILLATORS should be installed in all government buildings, says ACT Health spokesperson Leanne Castley.
Ms Castley will introduce a motion in the Legislative Assembly today (March 23) calling on the ACT government to act and also support a public education campaign on defibrillators.
There is no requirement in the ACT for defibrillators to be available in public buildings, says Ms Castley. St John Ambulance estimates this could cost the lives of up to 100 Canberrans each year.
“Following sudden cardiac arrest, the chances of survival decrease by up to 10 per cent for every minute that passes,” the member for Yerrabi says.
“St John Ambulance has been calling for defibrillators to be more readily available in the ACT, but the government has ignored the issue.
“Less than half of ACT government schools have defibrillators on campus. The Canberra liberals are calling for a commitment from the Labor/Greens government to ensure that every Canberran working or visiting an ACT government building has access to a lifesaving defibrillator when they need it.”
Each defibrillator costs $2500 for installation and upkeep, and St John Ambulance estimates it would cost the government $1 million to provide 400 defibrillators which is enough for all ACT schools, government buildings and buses.
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![Teacher Vanessa Jones has been living in Higgins since 2001, and while she loves the area, she says she is “fed up” with the neglectful ACT government.
The Higgins shops have been completely abandoned, says Vanessa, preventing the opportunity for residents to have a community-centred space to socialise.
They only received bins nine months ago, she says, and requests for a water station and repairs to the bus station have gone unanswered.
“It’s very, very slow,” says Vanessa.
“I asked for the zebra crossing on Fullagar [Crescent] to be repainted, and we had to wait about six or nine months.
“That’s just such a long time… we pay a lot of rates.”
Vanessa says assistance from the government only seems to go to communities with time-rich and assertive communities, leaving places such as Higgins, where the majority of households have both adults working full-time and English may not be the first language of the family, at an automatic disadvantage.
“If you’ve got two people working, paying a mortgage, raising two or three kids, they don’t have the time,” says Vanessa.
Vanessa says the lack of attention quieter places such as Higgins is receiving is starting to look a lot like favouritism.
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