Labor\u2019s third budget has betrayed the queer community with all funding for the 10 Year National Action Plan on LGBTIQA+ Health and Wellbeing disappearing from the budget. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The National Action Plan was announced in 2022 with an initial budget of $900,000 through May 2024. Despite the Advisory Group meeting for a year, there\u2019s been very little progress made on what the Action Plan will actually contain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And now, there\u2019s no new money in the budget to keep this vital work going. Is this the end of the National Action Plan Labor was so proud to trumpet two years ago? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only tangible budget item for the LGBTIQA+ community is the overdue implementation of the HIV Taskforce Reports \u2014 and even that\u2019s too little, too late. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This Government has chosen a surplus instead of helping people who need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just a fraction of that $9.3 billion surplus would fully fund the Action Plan as well as removing out of pocket expenses for gender affirming care, expanding eligibility for IVF and reproductive health programmes to LGBTIQA+ families, and making sure every community, from capitals to the regions, have access to comprehensive and LGBTIQA+ friendly health services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Government knows that LGBTIQA+ people have worse health and mental health outcomes. So where\u2019s the money? Where\u2019s the money for gender affirming care? Where\u2019s the money for mental health support? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Anthony Albanese loves a Mardi Gras photo op\u2014but when the time comes to do something concrete, he\u2019s nowhere to be seen. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I won\u2019t stand by while Labor tries to push the National Action Plan on LGBTIQA+ Health and Wellbeing back in the closet. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Labor shouldn\u2019t post a profit while refusing to fund essential health services.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Increasing access to PreP medication is welcome, but the queer community needs a lot more than that.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Greens will always push Labor to take real action to help LGBTIQA+ people. Just \u201cnot being Peter Dutton” isn’t going to cut it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Labor\u2019s budget does nothing to support LGBTIQA+ people in Australia who are struggling to afford and access essential healthcare.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Labor has failed to put their money where their mouth is, and queer people are being left in the lurch as a result.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In this cost of living crisis, it’s essential we support people to get the mental health services they need before they are having a crisis. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Labor\u2019s budget for mental health care pales in comparison to demand.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This budget does nothing to improve queer people\u2019s access to gender affirming healthcare or bulk billing at their local GP, and it doesn’t support people to access a broader range of mental health professionals through Medicare.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s beyond time for the Government to get on board with the Greens plan to get mental health care into Medicare, so our community can access the healthcare they so urgently need<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Labor\u2019s third budget has betrayed the queer community with all funding for the 10 Year National Action Plan on LGBTIQA+ Health and Wellbeing disappearing from the budget. The National Action Plan was announced in 2022 with an initial budget of $900,000 through May 2024. Despite the Advisory Group meeting for a year, there\u2019s been very … Continue reading “LABOR\u2019S BUDGET BETRAYS LGBTIQA+ COMMUNITY”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26681,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26680\/revisions\/26681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Australian Greens Health Spokesperson, Senator Jordon Steele John<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n