Elective surgery
Mr GUY (Bulleen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:19): My question is to the Minister for Health. Yesterday I asked the minister about the case of Rebecca, who is from the City of Casey. She sat with her family and watched question time to remind this house that she has aggressive breast cancer. She needs surgery. She needs it now. She has contacted the minister’s office twice before. Today Rebecca is watching again. What can the minister say to her and many other women in the same dreadful situation as to why in the third year of the pandemic he has had to close elective surgery, why he will not reopen it as a matter of absolute priority and why he is content with putting women’s lives at risk by continuing to delay life-saving surgery.
Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (14:20): Can I thank the—well, I actually do not really thank the Leader of the Opposition for the question, but I note the Leader of the Opposition’s question. I would encourage the Leader of the Opposition, in the context of a global pandemic, to just consider measuring his tone and his use of language given we are talking about very serious issues here that are occurring right across the country and indeed the world.
We are seeing all states and territories having to take these kinds of measures in a very difficult set of circumstances. To say that there is no elective surgery is simply wrong. The Leader of the Opposition should have noted, as is publicly available, that in fact elective surgery has recommenced in day surgery in the private sector up to 50 per cent capacity and that these decisions, as we have made clear every step of the way, are done on the best of advice as to how we can treat the sickest of patients in the quickest and safest circumstances that sustain a workforce—a workforce and a system that when these measures were put in had some 5000 people off furloughed and had in addition to that thousands of others unavailable through their caring responsibilities and through other arrangements that were in place and that has seen as a result of that system all manner of pressures right throughout the commonwealth to the point where I do note that in New South Wales nurses are, for the first time in over a decade, now taking industrial action in direct response to this.
This is what happens, honourable Leader of the Opposition, when you push your people too far, when you stress your system to the point beyond breaking. We need to make sure that these decisions are being made in the best interests of the wider system, and they will not be in for a moment longer than they need be. I would urge all commentators, particularly those opposite, to not seek to make cheap political capital out of the suffering of people as a result of these decisions that are having to be made. It does not reflect well on the Leader of the Opposition—
Mr Walsh: On a point of order, Speaker, on the issue of relevance. I cannot see how Rebecca’s life is a cheap political point, and I ask you to bring the minister back to actually answering the question to Rebecca who is watching online here. If he thinks she is a cheap political point, he should resign and get out of this place.
The SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order. There was a very broad series of questions at the end of that question from the Leader of the Opposition. The minister has concluded his answer.
Mr GUY (Bulleen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:23): Ramsay Health surgeons and nurses are saying there is ample capacity in the private health system. Minister, why in the third year of the pandemic won’t the government allow private providers to manage their own capacity requirements rather than placing an arbitrary ban and capping surgical procedures such as breast cancer surgery across the whole system, putting Victorians’ lives at risk?
Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (14:23): I refer the honourable Leader of the Opposition to a series of answers I have given in the house over the last couple of days, but in particular can I use this opportunity to thank Ramsay Health, a for-profit company. The honourable member for Mildura would have high things to say about their contribution to her community. They have done an extraordinary job, covered by the national partnership agreement that has been in place since April 2020. The Victorian government, indeed the commonwealth government, have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in making sure that that ongoing partnership is in place for the purposes that the national partnership agreement has set out, and that national partnership agreement is specifically in place for these kinds of circumstances. Again, the honourable Leader of the Opposition’s use of language to inflame the situation is most regrettable. The honourable Leader of the Opposition really needs to measure his commentary and put the interests of patients and communities at the forefront.