The Abbott government's $80 billion cuts to health and education should "remain the No. 1 item on the agenda", Katy Gallagher has told the Senate in her first speech to the house.
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Ms Gallagher said the costs of providing hospital services were growing at 5.5 per cent per annum, but she slammed the federal government for only providing increases of 1.7 per cent despite being the "major funding partner".
"At some stage this is going to create a major problem for healthcare systems and patients which will take years to undo," she said on Wednesday night.
"The state of preventative healthcare planning at the national level is a disgrace.
"Failing to address this now will create demand down the track which will be impossible to meet and unaffordable to provide."
Ms Gallagher said resources were needed to kerb the rapid growth in chronic disease across the community, with her time as ACT health minister leaving her with a lifelong interest in the sector.
While acknowledging Canberrans "feel bruised" following federal job cuts, Ms Gallagher said the ACT economy had proven its resilience and continued to grow.
She took aim at Treasurer Joe Hockey, saying he had made his "first housing affordability gaffe" when he joked about the "golden rule" for Canberra real estate was to "buy Liberal" and "sell Labor", in 2013.
But she said despite 6000 job cuts in 2014, the territory had fared better than 1996 when John Howard's "razor" caused the economy to go into recession.
Ms Gallagher used her speech to talk up Canberra's landscape and diversity, saying it was "so much more" than a government town, but at times wore its political reputation like "heavy saddle bags".
While acknowledging the economy's dependency on government services, the ACT senator said Canberra's private sector punched above its weight with a flourishing small business community, a growing export industry and developing innovation and entrepreneurial sector.
She particularly lauded the territory's tourism industry and its $1.6 billion contribution to the economy as one of the largest private sector employers, supporting 14,700 jobs.
"There is huge opportunity for growth in this sector with the newly completed Canberra International Airport, particularly when international flights come to this city," she said.
She again took a swing at the government and its funding cuts to CSIRO and IT research organisation NICTA, but said the internationally renowned agencies still contributed to the "knowledge economy" along with Canberra's tertiary institutions.
Ms Gallagher said it struck her as odd that Canberra's citizens had to fight for many years for democratic rights equal to other Australians, despite Canberra being "handpicked as the home of democracy".
She called for the constraints of the Self Government Act to be removed to allow the Legislative Assembly to govern without interference from the federal government.
Ms Gallagher said the Australian political system was "not perfect" and improvements could be made to remove duplication.
"But any reform agenda must not simply be an exercise in pursuing one government's political agenda over another or an exercise in blame-shifting, cost shifting or placing unreasonable expectations on smaller governments," she said.
