On 5 December 2024, Injury Matters co-hosted the WA Public Health Pre-Election Forum with our partners the Public Health Association Australia, the Public Health Advocacy Institute and the Australian Health Promotion Association. The event provided an opportunity for the public health sector to hear from The Hon. Amber-Jade Sanderson MLA, The Hon. Libby Mettam MLA and The Hon. Dr Brad Pettitt MLC regarding the Labor Party, the Liberal Party and the Greens commitments to improving the health and well-being of the WA community.
Throughout the Forum, various health topics were discussed, with each representative providing context to their Party’s commitments in the lead-up to the WA State Election on March 8 2025. Despite each representative having differing political standings, all were in agreeance on the need for community-led initiatives to tackle the health inequalities in regional WA, the need to maintain restrictions on electronic gaming machines in WA and to not decriminalise drug use.
In regards to injury prevention and recovery, the need to further implement falls prevention initiatives, provide additional access to mental health support, enforce vaping restrictions and deliver additional road safety initiatives was explored. Minister Sanderson acknowledged that “falls are a significant issue” and discussed the need to further support GP’s in primary care, whilst the Leader of the Liberal Party of WA discussed the need to increase community access to active lifestyle activities to support older adults engage in local physical activities.
Mental health support is clearly a priority for political party’s leading up to the state election with the Liberal representative committing to $40 million to support mental health prevention and a further $40 million to support suicide prevention programs. The Greens representative also indicated that more information regarding the Greens commitment to mental health initiatives would be released in the coming weeks.
“We know that well-targeted prevention programs support reduced healthcare costs.”
The Hon. Libby Mettam MLA
“The Cook Government aims to do everything we can to keep people out of hospital, with a focus on prevention.”
The Hon. Amber-Jade Sanderson MLA
“In WA, we have a great surplus due to being resource-rich. Let’s put some of the money to good use and invest in prevention”.
The Hon. Dr Brad Pettitt MLC
Additional resourcing is needed to scale up all public health initiatives, however there was hesitation by all representatives to commit to 5% of the WA health budget being allocated to prevention by 2029. Challenges were discussed regarding the obtainment of this output due to rising healthcare costs and challenges associated with quantifying primary prevention initiatives. However overall there was recognition of the need for more accurate and transparent reporting by the government regarding prevention investments.
Injury Matters looks forward to ongoing conversations with WA political parties to ensure ongoing commitment to WA injury prevention and community well-being initiatives.