Tuesday, 22 February 2022

Rural and regional ambulance services

Ms GREEN (Yan Yean) (19:12): (6221) My adjournment matter tonight is for the attention of the Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services, and the action I seek is for him to inform regional Victorians about what health services and ambulance upgrades are in the pipeline for regional communities. Yesterday I had the privilege to represent the Minister for Health in the great community of Inglewood, which I know very well—close to where my dad and the family farm were, and I remember visiting my late grandfather in that hospital—and it was just wonderful to actually be in that Inglewood community to advise them of the two-person paramedic crewing now in Inglewood. This is in addition to other paramedic double crewing and delivery of an election commitment that we have previously delivered in Avoca, St Arnaud, Rochester, Beechworth, Camperdown and Terang, and of course our very valuable ambulance community officers continue to work in a voluntary capacity.

With hospitals we have seen, as I travel around regional Victoria, a lot of things in the pipeline with the Maryborough hospital, with the Shepparton hospital, with the Warrnambool hospital—I know the member for South-West Coast is very much looking forward to that—and also I have been to Mildura three times in recent months, and I know how much that community values having that hospital returned to public purposes. So it is only Labor that invests in health and ambulance services, particularly in regional areas, and post the pandemic it is something that has really focused the community. I want to thank our health workforce across the state, but particularly in regional areas, for the work that they have done during the pandemic, and I look forward to hearing from the Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services to see what else he has in the pipeline for regional health and ambulance services in Victoria.