Canberra Liberals Leader, Mark Parton will move a motion in the Legislative Assembly calling on the ACT Labor Government, Minister for Health to immediately halt the retrospective application of revised specialist outpatient referral criteria amid growing chaos and dysfunction in the health system.
More than 65,000 people are waiting for specialist appointments across Canberra Health Services. Patients with existing referrals, some of whom have already waited years, are now being told their referrals no longer meet updated criteria and have been closed.
“This is a shameful way to manage a waiting list,” Mr Parton said. “Instead of increasing capacity so people can be seen sooner, the government is changing the rules after the fact and removing patients who were already accepted.”
The motion notes that retrospective changes risk leaving patients without access to the specialist assessment they were medically referred to receive, and expresses concern for those who have already endured significant delays.
“Patients and families who have waited years should not lose access because the criteria were changed after their referral was accepted,” Mr Parton said. “Any decision to close an existing referral must be based on an individual clinical assessment, with clear reasons given to the patient and their referring doctor.”
The motion calls on the Minister to instruct Canberra Health Services to cease applying the revised criteria retrospectively, keep existing referrals active under the rules in place when they were accepted, and ensure patient safety is not compromised.
It also requires the Minister to report to the Assembly on implementation and the number of existing referrals closed by the last sitting day of 2026.
“This is about basic fairness and patient safety. The government must stop managing the list by removing people from it,” Mr Parton said.
The Motion will be debated in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, 27 October 2026.