"Health is not valued till sickness comes." - Thomas Fuller
The Greens believe that access to a comprehensive, high quality health care system is a basic human right, and that a public health system is the best way to deliver health services.
Governments are responsible for ensuring that all people have access to the resources and opportunities essential for good health.
Health service provision should be equitable, socially just and responsive to changing needs.
Individual health outcomes are influenced by biological, social, economic and environmental factors and these must be addressed as part of a comprehensive health care system.
Lynn endorses the World Health Organisation definition of health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
She and the Greens seek a holistic approach to health that includes an emphasis on disease prevention, health promotion and social and environmental determinants of health.
“People who laugh actually live longer than those who don’t laugh. Few persons realize that health actually varies according to the amount of laughter.” – Campaigner and politician James J. Walsh
Hon Lynn MacLaren MLC - Member for South Metropolitan Region Legislative Council, Parliament of Western Australia