Wednesday, 9 March 2022

Matters of public importance

Health services

The SPEAKER (16:01): I have accepted a statement from the member for Gembrook proposing the following matter of public importance for discussion:

That this house notes that Labor governments have run Victoria’s health and ambulance system for 11 of the last 15 years, during which time the Member for Mulgrave has been Premier or Minister for Health, and have failed to act to fix our health crisis and must take responsibility for:

(1) the 000 crisis, with Victorians being left on hold, loved family members dying whilst waiting for an ambulance that will never arrive;

(2) more than 80 000 Victorians are left languishing on surgery waiting lists, with the Andrews Labor government failing to have a plan or target to drive down the record numbers;

(3) the only statewide code brown shutdown in Australia; and

(4) 151 500 Victorians on the public general dental care waiting list, waiting nearly 24 months for a check-up.

Mr BATTIN (Gembrook) (16:02): The inability of ESTA to deal with surges in demand has been the subject of many warnings to the Victorian state government, including warnings from the State Coroner’s office and the inspector-general for emergency management following the 2016 thunderstorm asthma event that left 10 Victorians dead in Victoria.

On 30 April the number of emergency calls per quarter rose and the response times were continuing to blow out in the state, and there was no answer from the government. On 28 September 2021 there was an article in the Age:

Community Workers’ Union secretary Sue Riley said the agency was underfunded for years before the pandemic and was not equipped to handle heightened demand.

‘The organisation is at the lowest point it’s ever been,’ Ms Riley said, adding that many staff members had departed in the past two months due to the pressures.

Ms Riley and an ESTA worker said the organisation relied on staff working overtime and not having breaks. Ms Riley said workers who may have finished a traumatic call were sometimes hiding in their cars to avoid being called back from work.

‘Since the middle of last week it’s got even worse,’ one call taker said. ‘We have 16–20 calls waiting at all times; it’s not just a spike for something like a massive car crash, it’s constant. We’re in a crisis.’

That is the staff and union representations of ESTA. This was on 28 September 2021. And the response from the government at the time? Silence, absolutely nothing.

On 8 October the federal minister for communications, Paul Fletcher, wrote to the Minister for Emergency Services, highlighting that on 6 October alone two calls were on hold for 30 minutes, 20 calls were on hold for between 20 and 30 minutes, 37 calls were on hold for between 15 and 20 minutes and 53 calls were on hold for between 10 and 15 minutes. And the response from the minister? Silence—still would not speak up about the crisis that was happening.

There are so many stories here in Victoria about people dying on hold, and it is quite simply not good enough, and those families deserve an answer. But I am going to read one of the articles that has come out recently, because it deserves to be in Hansard—and the minister and the Premier must answer for this. It details the case of Alisha Hussein:

It’s when Alisha’s face turns a bluish grey that her mother, Jasmin Hussein, realises the window is closing to keep her 14-year-old daughter alive. Every second is precious, every minute a lifetime.

Breathe, Alisha.

Please breathe.

Jasmin has dialled triple zero, and is waiting to hear the voice of a call-taker to tell her what to do, or get an ambulance on the road. Victoria’s Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA) is meant to answer emergency calls within five seconds.

But on this night, October 27 last year, no-one at ESTA is picking up her call …

Thirty seconds ticks over. One minute.

A Telstra operator is still trying to page Jasmin through to a triple-zero call-taker, but it isn’t working. Neither is the puffer or the nebuliser that normally help Alisha during an asthma attack.

Jasmin knows that a speedily dispatched ambulance can stabilise an asthma patient. But no one is picking up.

And now Alisha is turning blue.

…

Alisha is 14 … Jasmin hears herself telling the Telstra operator her daughter might be dying.

…

Alisha’s face isn’t only drained of colour. Her eyes have moved from pleading and panic to terror. Her lungs need air.

Two minutes pass and Jasmin decides to put her daughter onto the back seat of the family car and race her to hospital.

Three minutes. ESTA still hasn’t picked up. Jasmin is performing CPR on the car’s back seat while her husband drives. Her triple-zero call is still with the Telstra operator who is still trying to page it through to ESTA.

The Telstra recording captures Jasmin speaking again. This time just two words: “She’s dying”.

Five minutes pass.

… Jasmin is … is trying to revive her daughter. She is screaming at her: “Breathe, Alisha. Breathe.”

…

Ten minutes. Eleven minutes. “Ambulance still ringing out” says the Telstra operator. There is still no one at ESTA who is able to pick up.

…

Thirteen minutes have now passed, but Jasmin’s call remains an urgent flashing light on a computer screen as call-takers help others in the triple-zero queue …

…

Fourteen minutes. Alisha’s mum has given up on getting through to ESTA and is carrying her into hospital. The unnamed Telstra operator has also given up. The recording captures her muttering in frustration: “Fifteen minutes!”

On a hospital gurney, the teenager … is almost unrecognisable, surrounded by doctors and tubes …

Long before she’s formally declared dead, Jasmin knows by the absence of life in her little girl’s face that she is gone.

ESTA never picked up the phone. If it was a one-off case, you would say it was an absolute tragedy.

On 3 November 2021 a little girl, 23 months old, drowns in a pool. Multiple calls to 000. The family drives her to an urgent care centre where staff make two further calls also delayed by more than a minute.

On 10 November 2021 a man, 43, collapses. Two calls to 000—lasting about 4 minutes—but do not connect. The man dies at the scene.

On 18 November 2021 a man, 49, gets a limb injury from a chainsaw. The call takes 5 minutes and 36 seconds to connect. The man is conscious when paramedics arrive, but he goes into cardiac arrest and is declared dead on arrival at hospital.

On 19 November 2021 a little boy, just two, was found face down in a public pool where he was for about 10 minutes. It takes 5 minutes and 44 seconds for a 000 call to connect. He is resuscitated at the scene but dies days later in hospital.

On 19 December 2021 a man, 51, has a cardiac arrest at home, and it takes 5 minutes and 22 seconds for the 000 call to be answered. He is pronounced dead at the scene.

These are all supposed to be answered in 5 seconds.

On 5 January 2022 a man, 39, suffers from severe shortness of breath. It takes 6 minutes and 14 seconds for the call to reach an operator, followed by an ambulance dispatch delay of 14 minutes. The man goes into cardiac arrest soon after the paramedics arrive.

On 6 January 2022 a man, 21, goes into cardiac arrest at a public car wash. It takes 4 minutes and 26 seconds for the call to be connected. He dies at the scene after 47 minutes of resuscitative efforts.

On 14 January 2022 a man, 61, collapses. His housemates hear him. It takes almost 9 minutes for the 000 call to get through to an operator. He dies at the scene following more than 30 minutes of attempts to save his life.

On 15 January 2022 a man, 51, goes into cardiac arrest after choking at a food court. It takes 4 minutes and 21 seconds for an ESTA operator to be reached. The 51-year-old is pronounced dead at hospital.

A baby, nine months old, goes into cardiac arrest, and the call answer was delayed for 4 minutes and 28 seconds. The infant, who was later diagnosed with a large subdural haematoma, dies at hospital two days later.

These are all cases that we are hearing about in our offices and in the media. I am sure, I am confident, that Labor members of Parliament are hearing exactly the same thing, and I am yet to hear them stand up in this place and call out that it needs to be fixed.

What did the government do? The government sacked Marty Smith—said he resigned—on 21 October 2021. We all know how that works. That is the scapegoat, trying to push it aside. He had been lobbying the Andrews Labor government since the pandemic started for increased staff, and he was continuously ignored. That is simply not good enough. He was thrown under the bus and has gone from ESTA. Danny Hill from the paramedics union has come out and said:

We’re hearing of some very, very unwell patients, waiting for up to 20 minutes to get through just to have a call answered …

I have given you the cases today where they have died. The member for Melton was formerly involved with the ambulance and paramedics union in Victoria, and I hope he is speaking on the matter of public importance today. I hope he is reading through those same statements that we are reading through, and I would be very pleased if the member for Melton had the courage to refer to Danny Hill’s comments about people dying in Victoria. It is not the ambulance or the paramedics, it is not the call operators; it is a failure to invest for so long by this government in our entire health service. Danny Hill also said, in relation to people waiting, that:

Two minutes is dire. It’s a life or death time frame …

Then the government stand up today and they trumpet their $115 million investment, which will put Victorians on hold for another 15 months before they are going to fix this problem, so they say—a problem that they made. Let us not forget ambulance call takers were reduced during the pandemic—not people on leave, not people on furlough; they were people that were no longer there or replaced and cut harshly during a pandemic by this government. There are 2.3 full-time equivalent less staff just in Ambulance Victoria. There is a 13 per cent decline in call takers for fire, and it is 3.42 per cent in relation to police here in Victoria. These are not our figures, these are not made-up figures; these are government figures, and all of this has led to people dying here in the state.

You add to that we are the only state in Australia to have a code brown. Our waiting lists are so out of control the Minister for Health could not answer what the number was here in Parliament today. Either he has no idea or he, like a former Minister for Health back in 2010, wants to hide the figures. We cannot forget that the Premier of this state was the health minister when they hid the elective surgery waiting list. That is shameful—shameful! We are seeing people on hold for ESTA, we are seeing delays in getting ambulances to them and then we are seeing people denied elective surgery. They have, during the pandemic, been closing and stopping elective surgeries in the private health system. Take out the word ‘elective’ and replace it with ‘vital’, because you do not go in and get surgery for nothing; you go in there because it needs to be done. It is something that is urgent. It is the stories we have heard here again and again.

I am going to say the 100 000 people on the waiting list averages more than 1000 in the electorate of every person in here. Every single person in here has more than 1000 people on average in their electorate on the waiting list, and I cannot believe that it is only Liberals that are getting emails. It just makes no sense. It cannot be that the only offices—

Mr D O’Brien interjected.

Mr BATTIN: Sorry, and the Nats; I apologise, and The Nationals. You know what? Probably the independents and the Greens as well—I reckon they are getting them. But it appears to be Labor is getting no emails. Is it true that areas like Cranbourne, Narre Warren South, Narre Warren North and Melton are not getting those emails? Are they not getting anyone coming through who needs to get a knee replacement, a hip replacement or pain control? The member for Hawthorn, I am confident—

Mr Kennedy: Not one.

Mr BATTIN: Not one? I will put that on the record: not one email for the member for Hawthorn. That is crazy.

Ms Hall interjected.

Mr BATTIN: The member for Footscray says ‘not one’. I find it amazing that it is only Liberals getting these emails. I will be speaking to my good friend John Pesutto to make sure he sends that out to his electorate. But it is so important, that you cannot—

A member interjected.

Mr BATTIN: I am predicting the future, that it will be his electorate. I will tell you now that you cannot say that only Liberals get this. There is only one reason behind this: Labor MPs are ignoring this problem. They are ignoring the fact that people are dying on hold. They are ignoring the fact that on 60 Minutes just this week we watched as a mother spoke into that phone and said, ‘Breathe, Alisha, breathe’. And I want every member of Parliament, I do not care what side you are on, to have that ingrained in their head. My wife in 1995 watched her brother pass away from an asthma attack whilst on hold—and I know you are going to turn around and go ‘That was in the Kennett era’. It has not changed. It has not been fixed since then.

To watch that happen and hear of a mother going through that should send shivers down your spine, and do not get up and talk about the bragging and the patting on the back that the Premier wants you to say. Talk about what has happened in the last eight years, the absolute failure to fix this system, because I am sorry to say, after these times, since that election of 2014, it is now your fault, and it is now your problem. The member for Melton has got his papers there, and I am looking forward to hearing from him. I hope that you quote every quote that Danny Hill has put out there, and I hope you have in your mind ‘Breathe, Alisha, breathe’, because if you have not got that in your mind, you are thinking about the wrong thing here today—and that is people’s lives in Victoria.

Mr McGHIE (Melton) (16:17): I rise today to contribute to the matter of public importance (MPI) listed by the member for Gembrook, and I was interested to hear his contribution. I just want to pick up on a couple of things that he raised and respond to them. In particular he said that there has been no response from the minister. Well, of course in last year’s state budget there was a delivery of $46.14 million for 43 additional staff, who are in place now at ESTA, and it goes a long way to address the issues, but again people have to be trained, they have to gain experience to be proficient call takers and dispatchers. In the last week there has been a further announcement by the minister of a $116 million injection for an additional 120 staff, again to be trained and to gain experience and to become proficient call takers and dispatchers.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Gembrook and the member for Evelyn!

Mr McGHIE: And the Minister for Health stated the other day in this chamber that there is more to be done. So, anyway, I had to check the date when I saw this MPI listed on the notice paper, and I was wondering whether it was groundhog day. Those opposite want to have a discussion—

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! I just ask the member for Melton to resume his seat. This is a passionate debate about an issue that people are very passionate about. The member for Gembrook was heard in relative silence with a few interjections. The member for Melton should be also heard in relative silence with a few interjections. I ask members at the table not to interject.

Mr McGHIE: Thank you, Speaker. Initially what I will do is refer to some history, and you mentioned the Kennett era.

A member: That was 20 years ago.

Mr McGHIE: That’s okay. We are still patching up the damage from that era. Look, I remember the Kennett era very well. I worked as a paramedic, and I also worked at the union. I went to the union during that issue. During that Kennett era there were massive cuts in health care and ambulance services, and there were also many deaths because of what they introduced during that era, and that was the privatisation of the communications centre to Intergraph. They privatised the workshops. They privatised the stores. They had an agenda to privatise ambulance stations, and they actually did privatise an ambulance station. I see the member for Cranbourne here, and we raised that when I was out at Cranbourne about a year ago with the member about the Cranbourne ambulance station being privatised. The agenda was to have ambulance franchises around the metropolitan area of Melbourne, and if you could not afford the response of ambulance services you would not get the service. So that was the agenda back in the 1990s. The damage that that did took many, many years to be repaired, and as I say, Kennett was successful in privatising the Cranbourne ambulance branch and Cranbourne ambulance service for 10 years.

And now, I am pleased to say, under this government, under a Labor government, it has been brought back into public hands. I have to say that if the Bracks government had not been elected in 1999, we would have had ambulance branch franchises all over metropolitan Melbourne. That would have been disastrous for Victorians. Imagine the cost to Victorians’ quality of life and lives themselves if Kennett had been able to monetise casualties and Victorians’ health emergencies.

We know how ambulance response times and services can be destroyed thanks to the Baillieu-Napthine government and the experiment of their war against paramedics in 2010–14. I was in the middle of that war as the secretary of the ambulance union. That went on for three years, where we were having negotiations with that government at that time. Unfortunately through that negotiation we saw a situation where paramedics got fed up with that government and had to take it into their own hands to publicise their concerns on the windows of ambulances. I have to remind our opponents across the chamber that that is why they are sitting over there; it is because of their war against paramedics back in the term of 2010–14. I will continue to remind you of that.

The other thing that Kennett did back in his era was privatise the non-emergency patient transport sector. Ambulance Victoria used to do all non-emergency transport, and they could have surge capacity with those non-emergency cars to come back and pick up the emergency work when there was a surge. Right now we do rely on some of the private companies to help Ambulance Victoria, but they are not paramedics, they are ambulance attendants and they are patient transport officers, so it is still not to the same degree. So we do not have that reliance on those patient transport crews. Even though they do a high percentage of work, they cannot deliver the same level of care that ambulance paramedics can.

In 1995, which is a long time ago, I went from being a paramedic into the union. I was the assistant secretary initially and then became the secretary, for 13 years, during the 2000s. I want to thank Jeff Kennett for one achievement, and that was that he politicised ambulance paramedics. I think it was a great thing that he did. Because of that, it cost two coalition governments their terms. I will remind you of when—1999, see you later, Jeffrey, and 2014, see you later, Denis. It was because of their actions against paramedics and other healthcare workers at that time that they started to learn and campaign, and I thought it was a fantastic thing. And yes, they will continue to campaign regardless of the colours of government, and that is why someone like Danny Hill would be making comments. Danny Hill is doing that on behalf of his members, but he is also doing it on behalf of Victorians. It is not just about benefits for his members, it is about benefits for Victorians, and all healthcare workers will fight to improve the system regardless. It is never perfect, but you continue to fight to improve the system as much as you possibly can.

As I said, in 2014 paramedics were politicised and took the fight up to government, hence why they are in opposition now. So 22 years on from Kennett the clear message learned is that you need to work with Victorians and in particular the public sector workers like paramedics, like nurses, like healthcare professionals, like the call takers and dispatchers, because if you do not, you suffer at the ballot box. The Andrews Labor government is getting on with getting things done and was further endorsed by the outcome of the 2018 election. Since the Andrews government was elected we have seen our paramedics supported with better wages, better conditions and of course better mental health support.

Ms Vallence interjected.

Mr McGHIE: No, it is not all about elections for me. There has been a vast improvement in paramedic numbers. New ambulance branches have been built and upgrades made to old branches. There have been comments made in other contributions that we have done nothing. We have done a hell of a lot: 700 more paramedics in the last year, new ambulance branches dotted across the state—

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Evelyn has already been warned.

Mr McGHIE: upgrading our staffing numbers in rural and regional areas, double crewing in country towns. We used to only have single-officer crewing for paramedics in small country towns; now it is dual-officer crewing that does not have a great reliance on using volunteers within the community to respond to cases.

There has been a little thing called COVID around in recent times, and we need to understand the effect of COVID on all of our services, in particular our health services, and also what has happened at ESTA. We have seen I think in the last quarter a 19 per cent increase in cases that Ambulance Victoria have responded to in the Melton electorate alone. I know in Ambulance Victoria there has been a 16.2 per cent increase in cases that they have responded to—and the busiest time that they have had, in excess of 91 000 code 1 cases. Of course when you get such an increase in calls and cases there are also other factors that extend the period in regard to availability or unavailability of ambulances. And that is that because of COVID—because of the need to wear PPE, because of the need to protect the patients, because of the need to protect the healthcare staff at the hospitals—it takes longer to do a case, to respond to a case, to attend a case, to transport the patient, to offload the patient at the hospital. It takes longer. So normally on average if you had a case time of an hour and a half, it has probably blown out to at least an average of 3 hours before that ambulance crew can be released to another case. When you have got a 16 to 19 per cent increase in caseload that is a massive blowout in times.

You might say, ‘Well, that can be fixed overnight’. It is physically impossible to fix it overnight. It takes three years to train up a paramedic. It takes a further 12 months to get workplace experience before they are deemed to be qualified and before they are able to run out there as a proficient paramedic being able to respond to any type of case. Likewise call takers and dispatchers at ESTA: it takes them six months training and then experience on top of that to become a proficient call taker and dispatcher—and let me say those call takers and dispatchers are working as hard as they possibly can. There has been reference made in this chamber to how they have worked excessive overtime, how they have had to take other days off just to have a rest. That happens right through the health sector. That happens right through the call-taking and dispatch system. That reliance on the staff is not new. It is not new, and regardless of the numbers that you bring in it will not be new into the future either. There will be a reliance on staff to make themselves available to come in and fill vacant shifts. Those shifts become vacant for a whole range of different reasons.

You know, at the moment due to COVID there has been some furloughing of staff both in the ambulance service and also at ESTA, and it has caused obviously major problems for them. The peak of the delta and omicron waves, the busiest time in ESTA’s history, saw an average of nearly 4000 calls per day. Look, when I left the industry only 3½ years ago, if they were doing 2000 calls per day it was a massive workload back then. So we are talking double that in 3½ years. It is enormous, and that increase you will find has been due in the last two years to COVID. There is no question about that.

At ESTA they work in almost like an office space, even though it is quite a big room, and of course I raised before the issue of vacancies in regard to staff. That is due to the COVID situation again and a number of their staff being furloughed. As I said earlier, there has been an injection of funds out of the state budget to increase their numbers by 43. Those people have been trained and put in place now. That will help initially and, as I said, there is a further injection of $116 million to introduce a further 120 staff. Of course the funding for the 120 staff will be for new ongoing positions. That injection of funds builds on the $27.5 million allocated in October for ESTA to address call-taking demand pressures and implement a scale-up technology solution. There is no doubt there are some issues in relation to the technology, and obviously some of that funding will go towards improving that situation.

Again I have got to reiterate the pressures that the call takers and dispatchers are under. I am not sure whether people are aware of the process in regard to how all this works when someone rings 000, but someone will have an incident, they will pick up the phone, they will dial 000. The do not talk to ESTA straightaway. They talk to Telstra, and that could be a Telstra operator anywhere in the country. They will ask, ‘Which service do you require: police, ambulance, fire?’, and they will patch them through. It will then go through to ESTA for a call taker to pick up that call. Once that call is picked up they will get the details of the incident and then it will be referred off to a dispatcher to dispatch the case to the ambulance service, to the next closest available ambulance crew.

But also within that room Ambulance Victoria have staff that oversee the clinical status of patients. They have staff like duty managers that oversee the resourcing levels of the ambulance service, and they can make decisions to bring on additional resources. As I say, they have clinicians, they have comms support staff. These are all people, highly trained paramedics, put in place to try and protect Victorians through the systemic processes.

There is also a secondary triage. Where people ring up 000 to try and get an ambulance because they think they will be attended to straightaway but they do not require an ambulance, the secondary triage will question them about their condition and get more information, and they may refer them to off to a locum, a GP—‘Wait and see the doctor tomorrow’. Yes, they may organise a taxi for them, because they do not require an ambulance. Twenty-five per cent of the calls into the comms centre do not require an emergency ambulance. If we are sending out messages that anyone that rings 000 should get an ambulance, it is the wrong message to be sending. People that are under emergencies should call 000. People that are not under an emergency should not be ringing to gather information from the call takers or dispatchers.

As I say, I want to thank our paramedics. I want to thank our healthcare workers, I want to thank the call takers and dispatchers for the wonderful job that they have done to try and keep the system going, to attend to Victorians. Yes, there are always going to be some issues and cases that will be highlighted, and no-one wants to see that. We are all trying to improve the system. There has been an injection of funds, there will be more staff and there is more to be done.

Ms KEALY (Lowan) (16:32): There is more work to be done to fix the health crisis in Victoria. Never has a truer word ever been uttered in this place. I am absolutely astounded that we hear from this government time and time again dwellings into the far, far history of Victoria—back to a time when I was not even old enough to vote, and I am no spring chicken anymore—when we talk about things, patting themselves on the back: ‘We’re doing a great job. We’re spending so much money. We’ve got all these staff in here. We’re doing a fabulous job. No-one’s got anything to complain about’.

I put to this Parliament: 12 Victorians died while waiting for ESTA to answer their calls in the past six months. That is not a time to pat yourself on the back and say you are doing a good job. That is not a time at all for the minister to stand here and say, ‘Oh, well, it was a COVID pandemic. We knew we were going to have more people and more episodes—more people needing to call 000’. And yet, in exactly the same time period staff were cut. Eleven staff were cut out of the call taker group.

Why on earth are we saying that this stacks up, that we are doing all we can to save Victorian lives and that we are doing all we can to support the strong and robust health system that Victorians not only need but deserve? We are not in a Third World country. We have gone through two years of pandemic, and there is no doubt it has put a lot of pressure not just on Victorians but on Victoria’s health system. But now we are in a situation with catastrophic failures by the Labor government, failures to take action when it should have been taken and drastic action that was taken that has impeded and stopped people from being able to get the care that they need. Whether it is about cutting the number of call takers in the ESTA call centre, it just does not make any sense at all that this would be happening.

We have got the same situation when it comes to the code brown, which is another point in this matter of public importance. We had a code brown because we were told by the minister that COVID would put too much demand, put too much pressure on our private health system, particularly focused on the elective waitlist. We heard again from the minister that he has got no idea what the current elective surgery waitlist is—no idea at all. It is just astounding to me that every single day every public hospital in this state reports on the number of people on their waitlist. It happens automatically. It goes straight to the Department of Health. But now all of a sudden we are being told, ‘No, no, no. I don’t see that data. It comes through on a quarterly basis’. If that is the case, it is the most ridiculous system that I have ever heard of in my entire life given that information sits within the Department of Health. They are using this information to call a code brown and to stop elective surgery in the public and the private systems.

We are being told that the reason that they are cutting back the elective surgery across the state is for this surge capacity to support our public hospitals, that all of the private hospital staff are going to come across and work in the public sector to help support COVID patients, and yet in the Pandemic Declaration Accountability and Oversight Committee hearings every single time we have asked a public hospital, ‘How many private staff did you actually utilise over that code brown period?’, the answer is exactly the same: it is zero.

So the minister made the decision on numbers that he knows nothing about. He does not know about the elective surgery numbers, but he made the decision to shut down elective surgery in the private hospital system and to shut down elective surgery in the public hospital system. We were told it was to help with surge capacity in the hospitals, but not one of those private nurses was utilised—so for what point? Why did we stop elective surgery? We got to a point where there were about 81 000 Victorians on the surgery waitlist in December last year. We are expecting that there will be over 100 000 Victorians on that waitlist when the numbers come out, finally, in the next week or two. The minister stood up today and talked about how transparent the government is. He is not being transparent at all. Be honest with Victorians and be up-front about it—‘This is what we’ve done, these are what the consequences are’—and at least have a target or a plan to get elective surgery back on track for those 100 000 Victorians who are desperately waiting for surgery.

While it is called elective surgery, there is nothing optional about it. If you cannot get to work, if you cannot walk to the corner and buy a carton of milk, if you cannot look after your grandkids—if you cannot do those day-to-day activities—or even drive a car, then do you know what? It is not elective. It has a huge impact on your overall attitude to life and how you integrate with the community and more importantly on your mental health as well. Living life with chronic pain causes an enormous amount of pressure on people’s mental health, and we know we are going through a mental health crisis.

There are simply not enough mental health workers in the community to provide the support that Victorians desperately need. Six lockdowns over the past two years have caused immense harm, and as Pat McGorry, one of Australia’s leading psychiatrists, will say, we are still waiting for the shadow pandemic to peak. We are still waiting for that to happen, and yet we still have not got any overall strategy from the government on how we are going to train a workforce up to meet that demand. Still, we will hear the spin and we will hear the talk: ‘Oh well, we’re implementing the royal commission though’. It does not matter what you implement. You can open however many mental health services you want; if there is no-one to actually work in there, it will not make any difference. It will not make any difference to people’s lives.

I want to go back and go through a few examples and hark back to the member for Gembrook and his opening remarks. What the member for Gembrook did, which the member for Melton failed to do, was talk about the Victorians who have had their lives significantly impacted by the government’s failure to ensure that there is an ESTA system that actually meets the target of answering the calls within 5 seconds. I completely reject any negative aspersions by the member for Melton that somehow we are criticising ESTA workers or paramedics because that is so far from the truth. I have problems with a government who have cut funding to that department and cut staff because that is crueller than anything else that is happening—that you would consciously put increased pressure on those call takers and simply go and pat yourself on the back and say, ‘We’ve been doing so much about it. It was bad back in Kennett’s days. We are not to blame’. I mean, seriously, we have had a Labor government for 19 of the past 23 years. This is the eighth year of this government. The now Premier was a former Minister for Health. Eleven of those past 15 years are his responsibility, and yet we have got these continual catastrophic events in Victoria where our health system and our health supports fall further and further and further behind.

We need see more than just media releases. We need to see real action, that evidence that you are going to actually put more staff into ESTA so when people get on the phone they are not sitting there and going through the horrible situation that we heard of Alisha Hussein and her mother, Jasmin, that was covered by 60 Minutes and the Age last weekend. A chill just went down my spine, and a tear welled in my eye. I just think it is horrible, as a mother, when we are told to call 000 and help will be there, we are told all the time that every second counts when it comes to a health emergency, and yet here we are. The mother of Alisha, Jasmin, was there doing CPR and had to utter the words, ‘She’s dying’. She waited on the phone for 15 minutes. Even the Telstra operator was exasperated, saying the ambulance was still ringing out after 15 minutes.

I put to each and every Labor MP in this place to put themselves in that situation, and if you still think that you are doing a good job, then you really need to question why you are in this place, because you are not in this place to make yourself feel good or get a pay packet at the end of the day. You are here to deliver for every single Victorian, and you have failed to do that. If you think that this is the right way to go—

Ms Green: On a point of order, Speaker, the member for Lowan is reflecting on the Chair. She has used the pronoun ‘you’ at least half a dozen times. I ask her to direct her comments through the Chair.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Members on my left will come to order. I do not uphold the point of order. I ask the member to make her comments through the Chair.

Ms KEALY: I stand with every single member of the Liberals and Nationals, because we are in contact with the people and with the Victorians who are putting up with this horrendous situation, people who are left waiting for 000 to answer the calls, people who are waiting for surgery, people who are waiting in emergency departments for days to get the support and services that they need, people who are waiting up to a year for the mental health support that they need. We are listening to their stories, we are bringing them to Parliament, we are bringing them to the relevant minister and we are demanding answers, and every single time that a member of the Labor government or the minister stands up and says, ‘We’re doing a great job because we’ve put out a media release, we’re spending money, we’re doing X, Y, Z’—what will you be judged by? You will be judged by the stories of the people that you represent that you have failed to stand up for. You need to stand up for every Victorian, and every Victorian deserves an answer when they call 000.

Mr J BULL (Sunbury) (16:42): I am pleased to have the opportunity this afternoon to speak on the matter of public importance (MPI) submitted by the member for Gembrook. We on this side of the house are a government of action and not of cheap political points, a government of investment and not soundbites. In my contribution this afternoon I want to outline the substantial, consistent and significant investments that we have made in our healthcare system through each and every budget, each and every year. But before I do, as I am sure others will in their contributions, I want to take the opportunity to acknowledge the incredible work that is done within local communities right across the state, all of the work that is done by our ambulance officers, every nurse, every doctor, every administration assistant, clerical staff—those that have done an extraordinary job through what has been the toughest of circumstances, the most challenging of circumstances, through the global pandemic over these past couple of years. And of course we know right across the state that every single ambulance officer, our nurses, our doctors and all of those that run the healthcare system have indeed done an extraordinary job through the COVID-19 pandemic.

These people within our community deserve our thanks, they deserve our support and that is exactly what they will get. I do not propose to speak too much in my contribution this evening about those opposite and their record, but I do just want to touch on, as the member for Melton has done, the irony of the MPI from a team from which, when they had the opportunity in those four years to be in government, what we saw were significant cuts to hospital funding, a war with paramedics, running our hospitals to the ground and trying to undermine the healthcare system at each and every opportunity. As we outline our record, as we continue to work with our healthcare professionals to make sure that we are providing the resources and the support, whether you live within the city or whether you live in the growing suburbs across rural and regional Victoria, we know of course that each and every Victorian is entitled to access great health care, and what is important is that we continue to make those investments, as the member for Melton has touched on.

I do just want to acknowledge the $130 billion, a significant amount, since coming to office that this government has been able to deliver right across the healthcare system. We know, as I mentioned, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown just how important it is to make sure that we are working each and every day closely with our healthcare workers. We know that the $8 billion goes to ensuring that every Victorian, no matter where they live, has access to world-class health care. There is a whole range of investments within local communities, and I did earlier this week touch on the upgrade to the Sunbury Day Hospital forming the Sunbury Community Hospital within my community—about a 40 per cent increase in total footprint—making sure that locals can get access to good healthcare services when and where they need them. This forms part of a broader package. Through the community hospital building program, we are building hospitals in Point Cook, Torquay, Cranbourne, Pakenham, Phillip Island, Craigieburn, the City of Whittlesea, Eltham and of course in Sunbury in my community. We know that the community hospitals are going to make a significant difference.

We also know of the record investment—the monumental investment—of $1.5 billion in the Footscray Hospital, the largest state health infrastructure investment Victoria has ever seen. We have also delivered $200 million to the Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital, ensuring families in the west can receive world-class maternity and paediatric services closer to home.

This is in stark contrast to those four years that those opposite delivered, and we know that that is not the record of this government. That will not be the investment from this government. The values that underpin all of my colleagues on this side of the house, with the leadership from the Premier and the Minister for Health to make sure that we are continuing to invest in these services, are critically important. There is no doubt—and other members have spoken at length on this; I have spoken at length on this—that the last couple of years have been the most challenging for our health services right across the state. We know that through the global pandemic states and territories right across the country and countries right across the world have faced extraordinary pressure on healthcare services. Whether it be hospitals, whether it be ambulances, whether it be some of those community facilities locally, we know that a global pandemic that delivers a fast-moving virus that has a significant impact on local communities places significant pressure on our healthcare system, and it is why we will continue to invest and it is why this substantial list of investments that this government has continually delivered will continue.

This is about making sure that we deal with a record number of calls to ESTA, and I know that the member for Melton spoke quite significantly about this. The member for Melton has extensive experience and knowledge in this area, and I always enjoy listening to his contributions because he is someone who has been on the ground and has spent a great part of his working life on the ground serving Victorians. He of course would know and recognise that ambulance calls that have averaged nearly 4000 calls a day during the peak of delta and omicron in December 2021 and into January 2022 have made this the busiest period in ESTA’s history. As the member for Melton has mentioned, they are historically high levels. Ambulance Victoria has also experienced the busiest quarter on record, with over 90 000 code 1 cases, a 16 per cent increase compared to the same time the previous year. We know that the $115 million that is invested in this package to bring on more call takers and better support and to manage the workforce and deliver recruitment and community education campaigns is fundamentally important. This funding will deliver an extra 120 ongoing positions, and this comes on top of 43 new workers funded in the Victorian budget 2021–22. It builds on just over $27 million allocated in October for ESTA to address the call demand pressures and implement and scale up those technology solutions. It is another really critical and important space where we know this government will continue to work with all of those who run the system and all of those that are involved. Each and every worker deserves support from this government, and we will continue to invest in that area at each and every opportunity.

There is a whole range. Whether it be community hospitals, whether it be investment such as the $1.5 billion in Footscray, whether it be services right across the state in rural and regional Victoria, these are investments that are fundamentally important. What we will continue to do, and what this government did throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, is make sure that we are also investing in the medical research side of medicine, of our healthcare system, making sure that we are investing in terrific places like the Doherty Institute and so many others that do extraordinary work in medical research. Following science, making sure that we are working with experts, making sure that we are following the medical advice is something that I know members on this side of the house can hold our heads up high about, because as tough and as hard and as challenging as the COVID-19 pandemic has been, we have worked with our healthcare team to make sure that we are doing what good governments should do: at each and every opportunity fighting incredibly hard to protect local communities, to follow that science, but also matching that with some of those investments, literally billions of dollars, in health to make sure that we are supporting those within our community who need it the most.

There is a really significant, long list of investments that I have not had the time to cover, but I do want to finish my contribution this evening by once again thanking all of those within our healthcare workforce, all of those ambulance officers that each and every night and day do an amazing job servicing our community, all of those people in community health, all of those people within hospitals that go out each and every night and look after some of the most vulnerable within our community. This is something that I know all members on this side of the house will continue to support. We will continue to make sure we invest in our health services right across the state.

Mr SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (16:52): Twelve Victorians, including four children, are dead, and this government want to pat themselves on the back and say what a great job they have done. This is a disgrace. It is an absolute disgrace to hear the reports, the revelations this week that 12 Victorians, including four children, are no longer with us. They are no longer with us, and this government is saying, ‘Look at the funding. Look how wonderful things are’. Are you serious? What a disgrace. We have had people like the member for Hawthorn and the member for Footscray saying, ‘Things aren’t a problem in our electorates. People aren’t contacting us with their health situations’. This is a disgrace.

Ms Hall: On a point of order, Speaker, I am being verballed by the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party. At no point did I—

The SPEAKER: Member for Footscray, that is not a point of order.

Ms Hall: I am being misrepresented, Speaker.

The SPEAKER: The member for Footscray may raise that in future debate, but it is not a point of order. The Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party to continue.

Mr SOUTHWICK: I cannot believe this. I cannot believe that we are seeing a parent—Jasmin Hussein, mother of Alisha—reach out and say that she had to wait 15 minutes for a call that should have taken 5 seconds. One, two, three, four, five—that is how long it should take a call to be received when you dial 000. That is what every Victorian should expect. Jasmin Hussein, who rang, had to wait 15 minutes when her daughter was suffering an asthma attack. She had to wait and in the end take her own daughter to hospital, still waiting for that call to be answered. When it finally was answered, her daughter was dead. Her daughter was dead, and there was no-one there to take a call—no one. How do you explain that? How does a mother ever live with that? I think anyone would expect the basics in this state—to have a 000 call be answered and the emergency services system work.

Now, we have heard the member for Melton and others say we are blaming the workers. Our emergency services workers have done an amazing job in the last few years—an unbelievable job. Nurses, paramedics, ESTA workers have done an amazing job but have been underfunded and let down by the Andrews Labor government. That is what has happened. Let us not hide all of this. Let us not pretend. Let us not pretend that we care, because this government does not care. They do not care. And Danny Hill, the secretary, said if the government had funded things and provided support, then many of these children and people that are no longer with us may still have been here, because the calls would have been picked up and the resources would have been provided and the ambulances would have been there. But they did not. This government has failed.

They failed the Hussein family. They failed a little girl, 23 months, who died drowning. Multiple calls were made to 000. The family drove her to an urgent care centre where staff made two further calls and were also delayed more than another minute. They failed a 43-year-old man who collapsed. Two calls were made to 000 lasting 4 minutes, but they did not connect—not 5 seconds, 4 minutes. The man died at the scene. They failed a 49-year-old man who got a limb injury from a chainsaw. The call took 5 minutes and 36 seconds to connect. The man was conscious when paramedics arrived but went into cardiac arrest. He was dead on arrival at hospital. They failed a little boy of two found facedown in a public pool. CCTV shows he was there for about 10 minutes. It took 5 minutes and 44 seconds for 000 to connect—not 5 seconds, 5 minutes and 44 seconds. He was resuscitated at the scene but died later in hospital. They failed a 51-year-old man who had a cardiac arrest at home. It took 5 minutes and 22 seconds—not 5 seconds, 5 minutes and 22 seconds—for a 000 call to be answered. He was pronounced dead at the scene. They failed a 39-year-old man who suffered from severe shortness of breath. It took 6 minutes and 14 seconds—not 5 seconds, 6 minutes and 14 seconds—for the call to reach an operator, followed by an ambulance dispatch at 14 minutes. The man went into cardiac arrest soon after the paramedics arrived. They failed a 21-year-old man who went into cardiac arrest at a public car wash. It took 4 minutes—not 5 seconds, 4 minutes and 26 seconds—for the call to connect. He died at the scene after 46 minutes of resuscitation efforts. They failed a 61-year-old man that collapsed. His housemates heard him. It took almost 9 minutes—not 5 seconds—for the 000 call to get through to an operator. He died at the scene following more than 30 minutes of resuscitation attempts. They failed a 51-year-old man who went into cardiac arrest after choking at a food court. It took 4 minutes and 21 seconds—not 5 seconds—for an ESTA operator to be reached. The 51-year-old man was pronounced dead at a hospital. They failed a baby of nine months who went into cardiac arrest. The call answer delay was 4 minutes and 28 seconds—not 5 seconds, 4 minutes and 28 seconds. And you can all laugh—you can smile and laugh—these are dead people. Do not be laughing.

Mr Eren: On a point of order, Speaker, the member is making accusations of members of the house which are bringing them into disrepute. He is saying that they are laughing, which is not true. He should withdraw that comment. Nobody is laughing at what he is saying. People have a right to have conversations.

The SPEAKER: Order! I have heard enough on the point of order. There is no need to withdraw any particular remark, but I do ask the member for Caulfield to direct his remarks through the Chair.

Mr SOUTHWICK: Thank you, Speaker. The truth hurts here because this is absolutely hurtful. This is hurtful.

Ms Green: On a point of order, Speaker, I believe that the member for Caulfield was misleading the house when he said that government members were laughing. No-one in this house was laughing. No-one was laughing.

The SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order.

Mr SOUTHWICK: With respect, I am trying to get these stories out of families that have lost loved ones. I am trying to get this out for the record to ensure that at least their memories are kept and something is done. Something needs to be done to fix this. Something must be done to fix this. This is outrageous. When we were in government we had the opposition running around using ambulances and painting them and making politicised comments in whatever way they possibly could. Now we have deaths. Now we have people that have died, and the government will not actually own it. They will not take responsibility for their failures—an absolute failure, a crisis. When the minister was asked at question time what somebody should do when they call 000 and there is no-one to take their call, the answer was to seek health advice—to seek health advice. How do you seek health advice when no-one is there at the other end of the call to give health advice? Victorians are having to take matters into their own hands because there has been a failure in the system.

Look at our waitlists. Our waitlists have blown out to 80 000-plus, nearing 100 000. The minister could not tell us how many are actually waiting on the waitlist, and this is crucial. We even heard the minister say today that elective surgery is not so much elective surgery—that everyone that is waiting is serious and should be treated accordingly. Well, let us get on with it. Let us do something. We have had nurses, we have had the private sector and we have had those that have been shut down for months saying, ‘We want to help’, and the government said, ‘Go away, we’ll do things in our own time’. We have those people on IVF being told, ‘You know what? You’re not important. You can be shut down as well’. This government has treated health like it is a Third World situation. We had in here yesterday a mother, a woman that was here yesterday, who is looking at India for an option because Victoria cannot help.

A member: The minister said, ‘Go’.

Mr SOUTHWICK: And the minister pretty much was signing the forms off. I mean, seriously—you know, like helping with the immigration to get them there. I mean, seriously, this is a real problem. This is a real concern. We have raised issue after issue after issue, whether it be the waiting list, whether it be the amount of people that cannot get an ambulance or whether it is 000 where people are dying. Nothing is happening in this government— (Time expired)

Ms HALL (Footscray) (17:02): This is indeed a very serious issue, but it is being raised by people who cannot be taken seriously. I thought that that contribution from the member for Caulfield was shameful. The misrepresentation of our government’s policy, the work of this government and the response to this very serious issue is appalling. To politicise people in these circumstances is terrible.

Mr Southwick: Politicise? People are dying. Do you care that people are dying?

Ms HALL: I will take up the interjection from the member for Caulfield. How dare he imply that I do not care—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I ask the member for Footscray not to respond to interjections. I ask those at the table to cease interjecting.

Ms HALL: As I mentioned, this is a serious issue that has been raised by people who cannot be taken seriously. The government has absolutely responded to a situation that has come about as a result of pressure on the system in a global pandemic—and thank goodness we had a Labor government which had invested in the system. I can speak about my local community and how the cuts by those opposite have directly impacted our local ambulance service, because do you know what happened when the Liberal Party were in government and what they did to my local ambulance service? They shut it down and they turned it into a block of apartments. That is what happened to the busiest ambulance station in the western suburbs—the busiest ambulance station was closed down by those opposite. We are now rebuilding it. That is an absolutely appalling situation.

When we had an opportunity in this place to listen respectfully to the one person in this chamber who can speak with real-life experience and knowledge of what it is like to be a paramedic and what it is like to save people’s lives, he was verballed throughout his contribution by those opposite. So this is not an issue that they truly care about, because their track record speaks for itself. The matter of public importance (MPI) correctly notes that we have been in government for 11 out of the last 15 years. Let us not forget what happened in those four missing years: a lot of damage. A lot of damage was done to our ambulance service, and it has taken a very long time to rebuild it. You can cause a huge amount of damage, and I spoke before about my local ambulance service and the fact that we are now bringing that ambulance station back—the busiest ambulance station in Melbourne’s west.

But contrast that with what is happening in my community in terms of health investment—the member for Sunbury mentioned it—the largest capital investment in Victorian history, at $1.5 billion, in the new Footscray Hospital. So we are rebuilding brick by brick the capital infrastructure that we need to support our terrific healthcare workers. Now, I would like to acknowledge how difficult it has been for our healthcare workers—something that those opposite have not been talking about—our hardworking paramedics and our staff at ESTA. They have absolutely been at the front line during this pandemic, and I want to acknowledge how difficult it must be for them to see these reports, as it has been for all of us. And the government has responded. Those opposite have watched the minister’s announcement responding to this issue. They have seen that we are investing $115 million to provide more resources when it is needed, but they do not care. They have not acknowledged that.

For this MPI, though, to be presented by those opposite, I can only assume that the Liberal-Nationals support every cent, every dollar, that this government is investing in health care—every dollar. They would not oppose any of it, would they? They would not perhaps oppose measures to properly fund our mental health system. They would not do something like that. They would not bag the public service at every opportunity they have. They might forget conveniently that the people who are answering the calls, the hardworking paramedics, are public servants.

I am really disappointed that the member for Evelyn has left the chamber. She spent the entire time the member for Melton was responding, with the knowledge and integrity that he brings to this issue, sitting there talking over the top of him. Well, I looked up something that the member for Evelyn had to say about our public service just a few weeks ago. On 10 February 2022, not even a month ago, the member for Evelyn said:

Our public service continues to bloat under this Labor government—

Ms Ward: Health workers are bloating the service, are they?

Ms HALL: Yes, the public service—there are too many of them. They are too well resourced, according to the member for Evelyn, and that just demonstrates exactly what those opposite think about this issue. It is all about politics for those opposite. I know as a former public servant myself how frustrating it is to see those opposite, when they are in government and indeed in opposition, undermine the hard work of our public servants, including our paramedics and the people who are answering the phone. The Victorian people know that those opposite cannot be trusted with our ambulance service, and as the member for Melton noted in his contribution, it is one of the reasons that Labor is in government—because they went to war with our paramedics; they absolutely trashed the ambulance service, including in my community of Footscray, as I have noted, because their entire philosophy is to slash and burn.

I could not believe it when I was hearing the member for Melton speak about the Kennett government’s plans to privatise the ambulance service and that in fact they had succeeded in Cranbourne. It is extraordinary that you would try to privatise the ambulance service. It is unbelievable. This is a legacy that we inherit. Victoria now has the best-funded ambulance service in any state or territory in the country, and we have doubled the investment that those opposite had delivered.

I wish we were not spending such a long period of time in such a political environment in this MPI, because I think the reality is that every single person in this place would acknowledge that this has been a really difficult week and it must have been a really difficult week for the people that are answering the calls and for the paramedics, who save lives every single day.

Mr Battin: And the families of people who die, maybe them too?

Ms HALL: The member for Gembrook is implying that I am not absolutely saddened by the loss of those families. I did want to say that during this pandemic the pressures on our system have been extraordinary, but thank goodness we did not have a privatised system. Thank God we had a system which we have made the most well funded in the country. Thank goodness for that, because of the two settings of those opposite, one is ‘Do nothing’, and believe me, that is the preferred option; the other option is to slash and burn. So to be lectured by those opposite about an ambulance system that they have tried to privatise over the years, where they have gone to war with the public service, where they are constantly saying that the public service is bloated—well, thank goodness we have got a Labor government that cares about our paramedics and our ambulance service.

Ms BRITNELL (South-West Coast) (17:12): Our health system is in crisis. Ambulance Victoria is in crisis. For the last two years during a health pandemic we have sat and been locked in our homes for much of that time, being told by our Premier that he was preparing the hospital system so we could cope. So how disturbing is it to have heard last week that the Andrews Labor government have cut funding to the 000 emergency call centres: our fire, our ambulance and our police. I have been hearing from my colleagues here in metro Melbourne, but it is happening in the regions as well.

We are hearing of people being told that an ambulance will not come and then driving people to the hospital. When I was nursing one of the main things we were always told was it is completely irresponsible to drive a patient, particularly someone who has got chest pain or bleeding or a major trauma, to the hospital, and this is what people are being told to do. The reason it is so dangerous and the reason it is so concerning is that people panic when they are behind the wheel and they see the person that they have got there collapsing, losing consciousness, bleeding, in excruciating pain—whatever the situation is—and that causes accidents and more people to die. It makes sense. That is why we have an ambulance service.

I will quote someone, and I will refer to the situation that they told me about in a minute. Simon from Bojangles, which is a restaurant in my region, experienced that situation where the ambulance could not come. I was talking to him after this, and he said, ‘There are certain fundamentals that we expect when we pay our tax in Victoria, and they’re just not what we’re getting anymore’. I do not know how many times I am being told about situations, whether it be Nicole from Portland, who was sitting in accident and emergency with her son, emailing me, telling me that an ambulance had not come for her child—just so distraught—or whether it is Hannah the nurse from Kirkstall, who was having a postpartum bleed and knew how important it was for her to get to hospital. But the call would not connect, so she would have bled out. Luckily, being a nurse she knew that, and the only reason she did not die was that she was a nurse and so was her husband, who drove her to the hospital.

And Simon, who I just quoted a minute ago—Simon who owns a restaurant in Warrnambool, Simon who had a person collapse and have a fit in the restaurant at Christmas time—was trying desperately to ring 000. He got connected to the ‘Do you want ambulance, police or fire?’ message, he said ‘ambulance’ and it rang out. He continued to try. Dave, who was a customer who also told me about this incident, tried ringing as well. One of his staff, luckily, was a nurse. When they finally did get on to the ambulance it was about an hour and a half, all up, this incident.

A member: You’re joking.

Ms BRITNELL: No, I am not. The ambulance said, ‘Get the guy home in a taxi’. The nurse said, ‘There is no way I am doing that’, and she drove him to the hospital. These people in my community were so shocked at this incident. Later that night Simon spoke to the police, and the police said, ‘Yeah, we heard about what happened. It was pretty awful’. So these are the stories that are not just happening in metro Melbourne but are happening here.

Before when the member for Hawthorn was laughing, I said ‘Come on’, because we were saying ‘You must be getting emails. You must be hearing the stories’. Well, my sister lives in your electorate, and in 2017 from being on non-steroidal anti-inflammatories she had an internal bleed. She lost consciousness. She was preparing dinner for her children. It was over an hour. She had gone past the tachycardia stage—Steve, you will know what I am talking about—past the blood pressure dropping to lose consciousness, and she was so bradycardic when she reached hospital she nearly died. So it is happening in Hawthorn.

Mr McGhie: She got an ambulance.

Ms BRITNELL: She got an ambulance after an hour and a half, member for Melton. She got an ambulance after an hour and a half. So these are real stories.

Now I will move on to waiting lists, because we are hearing story after story, not just in metro but right throughout the regions, about how long it is taking people to be able to have surgery. Surgery is vital. We have called it ‘elective surgery’, but now we are all realising just what elective surgery means. I do not think anyone wants to go under the knife without a good reason. We have got—we do not know how many we have got, actually. I can tell you that Warrnambool, South West Healthcare, has gone from 85 days to 218 days waitlisted. If you add all the hospitals up you will get the answer to how many people there are on the waitlist. We knew it was 80 000 in December. We know the hospitals all keep the data, so we know that information is available. But secrecy is a feature of this government.

Portland hospital, which has 9000 presentations to its urgent care every year, more than Hamilton hospital, has just had access to a secret report, the Hillis report, that Professor David Hillis wrote in 2020. It is now 2022, and that report has been leaked by someone who is obviously very worried about the situation in Portland. Now, I do not want to for one minute focus on the fact that it is a distraction. The reality is that that report says the government has had review after review after review, and this professor has said no more reviews until the recommendations that have been in these reports and in the report he did are adopted by the government. It cannot be done by Portland District Health alone. It has to be government led. But the government will not show the community what is in that report. I have read what is in that report. I have seen that report. Why should the people of Portland, with an industrial port, an agricultural sector and a forestry sector, have less ability to seek the support they need, when they are at least 4 hours from the city, an hour and a half from Warrnambool, which has got blowing-out elective surgery lists as well and pressures on it? That is why we are building a new hospital there. Why should the people of Portland not have the support they need? Why the secrecy? It is not about personalities or local politics. It is about a government-led situation. The government knows what they have to do but wanted to keep that a secret. Well, the secret is out, so it is time to be transparent with our community and support the people of Portland.

I cannot believe we in Victoria have just gone through a code brown. We have got an ambulance service that has been cut when we have got the highest demand on the health system and people need them the most. We have got the least funding, in the state of Victoria for the health system, of any other state in Australia, so much so we had to have a code brown called.

Now, I nursed in the hospitals for many, many years. I know what a code red is. I know what a code blue is. I know what a code yellow is—purple, black. I had never heard of a code brown, probably because no-one thought I would ever need to know about it, so I was not taught it. You just would not think in the state of Victoria that we would be in the crisis we are in now, and I will quote again Simon Mugavin from Bojangles, when he said, ‘Roma, there are certain fundamentals we expect in Victoria—health care, ambulance, to dial an ambulance and get an answer and get an ambulance’. He waited over an hour and a half—while, he said, ‘I had to walk over the guy, back and forth, because I had to still be able to manage the restaurant’. He was quite traumatised, as I think you can probably imagine.

And then we get to dental waiting lists. Well, 151 500 people are waiting in the public dental system, and what has the government done about that? What is it now, 19 out of the last 23 years, and we have 151 500 people who are in pain. These are not people wanting to have a check-up. They are people who are in pain. They are struggling. Their nutrition is compromised. Their health and wellbeing is compromised because they cannot function in excruciating pain. Have you ever had a toothache? I hope not. They are pretty darn hard to treat. They are actually very, very hard to treat with normal analgesics. The best treatment is going to a dentist preventively, and when you have to, seeing a dentist.

I have, as you all know, nursed for a very long time. Prophylactic medicine was a feature. We are now in a reactive medicine stage, and we will take years to recover because this government has not shown the care. They have lied to us. They have told us things that are not true, and now we are finding out the truth—from the Productivity Commission, no less. These are the facts. This is not me saying it. These are the government’s failures. (Time expired)

Ms WARD (Eltham) (17:22): Now, as I start my contribution today, I do want to give my condolences to those families who have undergone experiences I would not wish on anyone, and I cannot imagine how difficult this has been for them. We know that ESTA has acknowledged that any delays are unacceptable and the government has as well. I know that the minister has spoken directly with people who have experienced delays and assured them the government are doing everything we can to address these serious issues, but I will not be lectured by those opposite on how to manage our ambulance system when they did all they could to destroy it. I take offence to the claim that government members are sitting back, patting ourselves on the back and saying, ‘Job well done’.

We acknowledge the tireless work of our health workers. We pat them on the back. We tell them what a great job they have done, because their efforts over the last two years have been phenomenal. We know how much pressure they are under. My family has been in the fortunate position of getting ambulances who have responded quickly when my dad has needed ambulances over the last 12 months in Traralgon. The paramedics in Traralgon are absolutely fantastic, and, member for Melton, if you have the opportunity to pass on my gratitude to your former colleagues in Traralgon, I would be very grateful because they are a terrific group of people.

We are working with our health workers to manage our health system, and we are working with our health workers to manage the response to this pandemic. We do not want to disparage workers. We do not want people to be afraid to use the health system. We are going to tell them what we are doing to continue to strengthen the health system and what we have been doing for the last two years to do just that. We are not going to run a fear campaign that actually encourages people to not use it, to not ring 000. We do not want to see these circumstances again.

Now, I would just ask people to imagine for a minute what it is like to be an ESTA worker during a pandemic. ESTA forecast that there would be a rise in ambulance calls of about 6 per cent over 2021–22. The actual increase so far has been about 17 per cent, rising to about 30 per cent during the peak of omicron in November and December. The level of calls for help has outstripped the projected demand for 2021. So ESTA’s call takers have done an incredible job, and I am sorry that those who were on the phone to these frantic family members had to have this experience; I cannot imagine how traumatic it would be to try and help a family through this while it is happening.

It is clear they need more support, and we are injecting record amounts of money that will further relieve the pressure on call takers, that will reduce delays and that will provide the service that Victorians expect. Ambulance calls averaged nearly 4000 a day during the peak of delta and omicron over the last December–January period. It is the busiest period they have had in their history, and it remains at historically high levels. I do have a question for those opposite: what are you doing to help? What have you done over the last two years to actually help this state manage the pandemic, particularly your communities? What have you done to ensure that your communities know to not ring 000 because they have COVID-19 symptoms and need a PCR test or because they have got a blood nose? And we know this happens. We know people ring ambulances when they are not needed. There was extensive media coverage of this last year in the Age. They ran a story:

Fresh government data obtained by The Age shows almost 22,000 people who called an ambulance in the first three months of this year—about 12 per cent—

this is last year—

did not require transport to hospital and received lower-grade care.

Paramedics say they are being sent to people complaining of back pain, cold and flu symptoms and irregular-coloured faeces. When you have got paramedics going out to calls they do not actually need to go out to, then dealing with the frustration of having to change their PPE and having to clean out their ambulance in a COVID-safe way, that takes time. I cannot imagine how traumatic it has been for ambulances. I will talk to my aunt’s experience in Albury when Albury had a massive spike in COVID cases. She was hearing ambulances up and down her street day and night as people were being rushed to Albury Base Hospital.

I cannot imagine what our paramedics have been through in the last two-and-a-bit years, but where have the opposition been in helping to spread the necessary and life-saving public health messages? Where have they been? We had the Shadow Minister for Health claiming that BreastScreen Victoria was not seeing patients last year—to cancel your mammogram because there was a lockdown. This was not correct. It was so wrong, it was so incorrect and it was so harmful and damaging that ABC journalist Virginia Trioli demanded that the shadow minister remove the post. She said:

This is dangerous and should be deleted … You CAN and SHOULD get your mammogram. @BreastScreenVic is OPEN.

That is just shameful—that you would make people think to cancel their breast screen, that you would not convey accurate public health messages, that you would have people be afraid of the health system rather than feel safe in the health system. If you are experiencing a health emergency, you need to call 000. You still need to call 000. To pretend that you cannot, to pretend that people will not get through systematically, is wrong. There are these terrible examples where calls have not been picked up, but it is not the system overall. People are still getting taken to hospital, so please ring 000 if you need an ambulance, if you are in a life-threatening situation. Please do this.

What I also find mind-boggling in the contributions by those opposite—apart from the fact that their base claim is that we laugh, that we do not care—is that we are parents on this side too. We have loved ones on this side too. Of course we feel for these families, and to blatantly say that we do not is outrageous. To say that there are people on this side of the chamber who do not feel for these families is wrong. But their whole performance is about ‘Let me get a video for social media so I can wind people up’. It is not about accuracy. It is not about debating. It is not about talking about an issue. It is about ‘How many Facebook hits can I get on this?’ because, as we know from the opposition, it is just policy by Facebook. The opposition never cease demanding that there be less public sector employees in this state, and it is never clear to me if they are actually including nurses, doctors, paramedics, teachers, police—

Ms Green: They are.

Ms WARD: I believe that they are, member for Yan Yean, as we saw the cuts when they were in government. These are public sector employees. These are the people who help make the state work, yet they want less of them every single time. The member for Footscray has mentioned a comment from the member for Evelyn around the public service continuing to bloat under this government.

Mr Wakeling: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, I appreciate this is a long, wideranging debate, but it is not an opportunity for the member to use it to attack the opposition. I ask you to bring her back to the matter of public importance (MPI), which is a broad discussion around the government—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am aware of what the MPI is, member for Ferntree Gully. There is no point of order.

Ms WARD: We have also had a member opposite, the member for Mornington, say that:

We have a jobs crisis in this state, but instead of deciding to work with the private sector, to use government funding as leverage to generate jobs, to get people back to work, this so-called recovery spending is being used, in my view, to conceal what is apparently now a structural deficit, to conceal an expansion of the public sector, and that, frankly, is a recipe for economic disaster.

No. We are actually employing more paramedics. We are employing more nurses. We are employing more ESTA people and we are training them. We are employing people who can help us get through this pandemic. And while I still have 47 seconds on the clock, we are also employing more TAFE teachers, because do you know what? We have got free TAFE. It is thanks to free TAFE that we have had an extra 1500 people start training in mental health. We have had nearly 1000 in youth work in the last two years, 479 in alcohol and other drugs and 5470 in nursing, all thanks to free TAFE.

These are the people who are becoming a part of our health system, who are being trained for free by this government so that we have the health workers that we need to help us come out of this pandemic and address the concerns like the ones that have been brought forward in this MPI today. We are doing the systematic work to make things better.

Ms CUPPER (Mildura) (17:32): This matter of public importance (MPI) today is about anger at public healthcare failures, and it speaks to a system that exists to protect us from avoidable pain and trauma and loss of life. It speaks to the anger that is felt when parts of that system fail. I listened to the speech by the member for Gembrook earlier, and he provided a compelling, harrowing account of a system that sounds like it needs improvement. I know the feeling that he was describing—not exactly but in a similar vein. I have sat with my brother multiple times during seizures when he stopped breathing and started changing colour and slipping away. I have sat on the back verandah with my three-year-old as he went into anaphylactic shock, and in each of those cases the ambulance arrived in time. I cannot imagine the pain and the anger of not being able to get through and of having no-one answer the phone and watching a loved one die before your eyes.

I think the member for Gembrook expressed the distress that those families are feeling, and he was angry. And I get it, because when it comes to anger about being short-changed on healthcare my community has that T-shirt. We know that feeling well. We know what it is like to be left out in the cold on these matters, to be ignored, to be dismissed, singled out and gambled away. This is a broad-ranging debate, but I can give a specific example of anger at public healthcare failures. For 20 years Mildura had Victoria’s only privatised public hospital. It was a disaster for staff and patients, and just like the ambulance crisis it cost lives too, and that made us very angry.

Let us not forget the environment in which Mildura Base Hospital was privatised—an environment where hospital funding right across Victoria was slashed and many hospitals were closed altogether. These cuts had generational impacts on our health system’s ability to cope, especially in isolated regional areas. As the member for Melton, a former paramedic, pointed out earlier, the state is still recovering from that. That public healthcare failure at Mildura Base Hospital made Kevin Chambers very angry too. He was a much loved and deeply trusted local surgeon—internationally renowned—and in 2012 he blew the whistle on the failed experiment. The community jumped on board because they were angry too. They needed no convincing that this was a public healthcare failure because they lived it. The government at the time was aghast that the people of Mildura could be so ungrateful and so mean to such a nice company—the nice company that cut Dr Chambers’ access to the theatre for daring to criticise it, the nice company that maliciously had one activist demoted from his job at another organisation simply for stating his opinion, the nice company that threatened a local mum with legal action for questioning them on Facebook and the nice company that was supported and defended by the government of the day.

When one local activist, Ilona Legin, who was dying of cancer at the time, outlined her concerns on our local MP’s Facebook page, her comments were deleted, and that made us very angry. The public fight to reclaim our base hospital was strong and sustained. Yet after months of threats and reprisals from the private managers and their political allies, the deeply unpopular contract was renewed, and that made us very angry. The announcement that the spectacular healthcare failure on our doorstep would be extended was reported on the front page of the Sunraysia Daily, and members of the government of the day flashed triumphant smiles to go with their backslapping interview.

So we are very well acquainted with the themes of this MPI, with feeling angry about public healthcare failures, and we agree that a government that fails to fix any part of the healthcare system that needs fixing commits a grave dereliction of duty and is beyond redemption. Because nothing can redeem a government that in 1998 and 2013 signed and re-signed us up to a patently inferior model of hospital care, a model that it knew, or ought to have known, was putting lives at risk. Nothing can redeem a government that ignored the warnings of a great man like Kevin Chambers. Nothing can redeem a government that disregarded the testimony of cancer patient Ilona Legin. Nothing can redeem a government that ignored the compelling advice of the AMA, specialist doctors, nurses, surgeons and hundreds of patients, and nothing can redeem a government that ignored not only the basic healthcare needs but the voice and the democratic will of a good, decent, hardworking community whose children are as valuable as yours, whose elderly are as valuable as yours, whose loved ones are as valuable as yours and whose lives and dignity should have never have been gambled with.

In light of all of that I thank the member for Gembrook for providing this platform to talk about the importance of public health care and the responsibility of a government to step up when things need fixing. The question on my mind is whether this government can better the standards set by the previous government on that front. Based on my experience, perhaps assisted by the fact that the bar was set so embarrassingly low by the previous government, I have faith that this government can and will. Because undisputedly this government has a good record so far, at least in relation to Mildura. For example, when we raised with this government the problems of our hospital’s management model, this government gave our hospital back. When we raised with this government the problems with our hospital building, this government give us a $2 million master plan. So I am optimistic that when we raise with this government other problems that need fixing, like GP shortages and paramedic wait times, it will listen and help us.

It is in this spirit that I raise with the government in this MPI today a couple of distinctly ambulance-related issues that we need fixed. The first problem that I would like to raise with this government is that the Irymple ambulance station is not fit for purpose. It is run out of a former council building. Ambulance Victoria owns the building but it does not own the land, which is likely owned by the state government in some capacity we think. Our local ambulance team has said that if the government could transfer ownership of the land to AV, then they could sell the entire package and use the proceeds to build a brand new fit-for-purpose station that would not only help the existing staff do their jobs better but also enable the team to expand. And additional paramedics are needed given the rate of growth in the population in our region.

The second problem that I would like to raise with this government is about GP shortages in our small towns. In this case ambulance services are not the problem as such but part of the solution. The solution I am referring to is the Victorian government’s advancing paramedic roles implementation pilot, APRIP. APRIP has been a hands-down game changer in Ouyen and would be hugely beneficial in Robinvale, a town that has long struggled to get the level of essential services it needs due to the actual population being more than double what has historically been captured in census figures.

The point is that the APRIP program expands the role of paramedics to include some of the basic functions of a GP. It is designed to be a convenient stopgap for small towns where the task of finding a permanent GP can take some time, and the program is receiving rave reviews. The paramedic community support coordinator appointed to participate in the trial in Ouyen has been instrumental in reducing the amount of unnecessary patient transfers to Mildura, and that has meant that patients have been spared the inconvenience of an hour-long road trip for relatively minor medical needs. This has been especially beneficial to vulnerable patients such as kids or elderly people for whom extended travel can be difficult.

Our small towns do not expect the world when it comes to health care. They know that there are limitations to what can be provided in remote locations with small populations. But what they do expect, quite rightly, is a basic minimum standard of service. Community-based health organisations like Mallee Track do an extraordinary job and do everything possible to recruit permanent GPs, but it is a bloody tough market, and when that market fails, the government has to find a way. That is why the APRIP program is so important, because it works. But its future is uncertain after 30 June this year, and that is why we are asking the government to extend the funding, expand the program to other locations and make it a permanent feature of the Victorian government’s healthcare system.

As an independent I have the privilege of being able to say it as I see it. I am not interested in political party games but in what is best for my community. I am here to hold the government to account but also give credit where credit is due, and in Mildura this government has been responsible for the biggest step forward in public health care in living memory: bringing Mildura Base Hospital back into public hands. I also have the privilege of being able to call out hypocrisy when I see it, and having the Liberals and Nationals pretending to care about the quality of the healthcare system is, in my experience, the height of hypocrisy. The coalition has a big credibility issue when they try to say with a straight face that they care about public health care—just ask the people of Mildura.

Ms GREEN (Yan Yean) (17:41): Can I say, as a former resident of Mildura, that I am delighted to follow the member for Mildura in this matter of public importance (MPI). I would like to begin by, as the member for Eltham, the member for Footscray and a number of others did, offering my deepest condolences and sympathy to those who have lost loved ones, whether it is in ambulance delays, whether it is adverse health issues or whether it is COVID over the last two years.

Many of the members on the opposition side today have accused members of the government, saying that we do not understand and that we do not care. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. I mean, I know it is a political narrative that they are trying to say, but at no stage have we indulged in backslapping or saying how good we are. That is just not the government that we are. We always know that you have to work incredibly hard with a health system even in the best of times, and we have always put our shoulders to the wheel, unlike those opposite.

For the member for Caulfield to be saying untruths, to say that members of the government benches were laughing when they were not, well, people in the public domain and the community know that the member for Caulfield has got form in telling porkies. He has done it for decades.

Mr Wakeling: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, I know that the member on her feet has form in this area, but I do ask you to bring her back to the MPI. This is not an opportunity to attack members of the opposition, particularly members not in the house.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: That is a point of debate. There is no point of order.

Ms GREEN: Thank you, Deputy Speaker. The member for Caulfield did make those accusations, and I refute them absolutely. The opposition has repeatedly stated in this MPI that the government has cut staff numbers at ESTA, the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority. This is not true. It seems to be that they are referring to figures in the annual report. An annual report is a snapshot in time. The figures are not an average of recruiting statistics throughout the year. Many of ESTA’s call takers have become multiskilled as dispatchers, and while they were listed as such, they were still available to take calls. ESTA rosters staff to meet demand across the organisation, and call takers are able to perform a number of functions. Since the numbers in the annual report, we have delivered 43 new full-time equivalent call takers and more, and I would draw the house’s attention to the significant announcement that was made by the Minister for Emergency Services earlier this week.

Ms Britnell interjected.

Ms GREEN: The member for South-West Coast mentioned a figure of 18 months. We have certainly had our shoulders to the wheel during COVID, and this has been a health crisis. The opposition is unlike oppositions in other states and unlike the opposition nationally. Other oppositions, no matter what their political stripe, understood that this was an international health crisis.

Mr Riordan interjected.

Ms GREEN: Deputy Speaker, could you please deal with the member for Polwarth? I am finding it hard to even hear myself over his interjections.

Oppositions in other jurisdictions actually worked with their governments, because they understood that we were having an international health crisis and that our health system had never been under more pressure. I want to thank all the health employees, whether they are doctors, nurses, paramedics, personal care attendants or those working in aged care. They have done it harder than anyone else. Any time that I sooked up about having a mask on I checked myself and thought, ‘I’m not going to work every day wearing a mask, wearing a face shield, being completely wrapped in PPE and not able to drink water throughout my shift like those staff have done’.

Mr Riordan interjected.

Ms GREEN: The opposition here have not had that compassion and they have constantly tried to undermine the government’s efforts. They have not been supportive of our health workforce. As the member for Eltham stated, even the ABC’s Virginia Trioli took to task Georgie Crozier in another place for misleading the public and posting on Facebook that breast screens were still not being undertaken when they absolutely were.

I point out that the member for South-West Coast, who I have acknowledged on many occasions, had significant experience in the health service as a nurse. We went to the same school together.

Mr Riordan interjected.

Ms GREEN: No, member for Polwarth, she is not my local member. I own a holiday house in Warrnambool—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Yan Yean, through the Chair. Member for Polwarth, I ask you to cease interjecting.

Ms GREEN: I will be residing in the electorate of South-West Coast following this term of government, and I will be active in the community. You can rest assured of that.

The member for Lowan and the member for South-West Coast frequently overlook what occurred. I am sure that the member for South-West Coast when she was nursing would have known that the Kennett government closed the Koroit hospital, closed the Macarthur hospital and closed the Mortlake hospital. That is why those communities in her electorate do not have hospitals. In the electorate of Eildon, the Eildon hospital was closed. In the electorate of Lowan, the Murtoa hospital was closed. In addition to privatising the Mildura Base Hospital, they closed the Red Cliffs hospital. In the electorate of Ripon, they closed the Clunes hospital. In the electorate of Polwarth, they closed the Beeac, Birregurra and Lismore hospitals, member for Polwarth. I do not hear you speaking up for that. In the electorate of Euroa, they closed the Waranga and Elmore hospitals.

In Melbourne, they closed the Burwood hospital and the Preston and Northcote Community Hospital, which at that time was my local hospital. They cut back on the new Northern Hospital, which had been initiated by the Kirner government. It was so badly designed the gurneys in the emergency department did not even fit in the cubicles—your feet stuck out. That is how much they cared about the health system. They closed the infectious diseases hospital in Fairfield. How useful would that be now? They also privatised the Latrobe Regional Hospital. And my local hospital at the time, in 1999, the Austin, they were about to close. They had the contracts. It had gone out to the market. They were about to close it. They had set up a privatisation task force within the Department of Health, and they were going to continue. The member for Melton reminded us in his contribution of this. We know that they privatised non-emergency transport, but I had completely forgotten that they also privatised the Cranbourne branch and were going to establish a franchise network of ambulances.

I also recall I was here during the Baillieu and Napthine governments, and I will not say it was members on the Labor benches that were laughing when the now Premier and numerous members of our team were raising issues of ambulance dispatch failures—not during a health crisis and not during a world pandemic. It was actually during a time when they had cut budgets and that they had failed to deliver the 1000 beds that they promised. Instead they delivered 100—and even those were Hospital in the Home ones. So do not lecture people on this side of the house and cry crocodile tears and pretend that you care about running a health system and about ambulance response times, because your performance in government would show that you have done completely the opposite. We know that it is tough times for the health service, and we will keep doing our level best to improve it and to protect people and get the services they need— (Time expired)

Mr WAKELING (Ferntree Gully) (17:51): It is always a pleasure to follow the member for Yan Yean. I wish you all the best for your retirement, and I am sure that the member for South-West Coast will look forward in December to buying you a coffee at one of the many great cafes in Liebig Street in Warrnambool. So we wish you all the best for your retirement.

This is a very, very important discussion. This debate on the matter of public importance comes to the heart of the way in which this government is managing Victoria’s health system. As others on this side of the house have mentioned, the Victorian health system is in crisis. We have 80 000 and potentially up to 100 000 Victorians languishing on surgery waiting lists in the public system. We have over 151 000 Victorians that are waiting to get serviced in our public general dental care system. I mean, this is critical to tens of thousands of Victorians, not just to those in pain but to their families, to their parents, to their grandparents, to their children and to their siblings, because a family member who is suffering with chronic pain, languishing on a waiting list, impacts not just on that person but on their family.

Like many on this side of the house and I am sure many across the Parliament, I have spoken to families within their communities that are deeply impacted by the crisis in our elective surgery waiting list. The department, the government, may call it elective, but let me tell you, those that are on these lists do not elect to not have surgery, do not elect to not have their ailment cured, to not have their surgery undertaken. Many are in chronic pain, and unfortunately their health situation deteriorates whilst they languish on that surgery waiting list. So we have to remember, this is not about press releases, it is not about statements in Parliament, it is not about media conferences and it is not about newspaper articles, it is about people. It is about patients. It is about Victorians needing the health care they rightly deserve.

In a modern society Victorians expect to be able to go to hospital to have the surgery they need, and we believe that the list now is over 100 000 people. That is 100 000 Victorians. That is more than 1000 people per electorate that are in dire need to get into surgery. And we know this. I am sure everyone in this place has received those representations on behalf of those members of their community, whether they choose to stand up in this house and represent their needs or not. Those delegations are made to their members of Parliament, regardless of their political colour, by email, by phone call or by a visit to their office.

Our ambulance service is in crisis. The fact that people are calling ESTA and are not able to get an ambulance is traumatic. Since October 10 people have died, and of the 10 people who have died as a consequence of that failure four were children. Four children have passed away since October. It is not about press releases. It is not about statements in Parliament. It is not about newspaper articles. It is not about news stories. It is about people; it is about families calling 000 expecting to speak to someone at ESTA, expecting the dispatchment of an ambulance that arrives at their home or at the location, whether it is a restaurant, whether it is a home, whether it is anywhere in Victoria, for that ambulance to arrive in a timely manner and for that person to receive the care that they need. That is what we are talking about. We are talking about people. We are talking about Victorians. That is why this issue is so important.

I know those hardworking staff at ESTA and in the ambulance service do a wonderful job; I do not begrudge the work they do. And I know the member for Melton in his former role represented many in that workforce. This is not a reflection on individuals and the roles that they do. It is about the resources that governments afford to them to do their job. I mean, the simple fact is that ESTA has seen year-on-year a reduction of 11 staff—fact. The facts are that there was an overall reduction year-on-year of 11 staff. Now, the Minister for Ambulance Services might question that. I hope those staff have been replaced. I hope those staff numbers have been increased, not for my benefit but for the benefit of all Victorians.

Victorians expect to have a health service in place that is delivering for the needs of Victorians. Parents in my community, parents across Victoria, expect someone to answer the phone when they call 000 and, when they do, an ambulance to arrive at timely manner. In the last 12 months a woman fell near me and broke her leg. I called an ambulance. I stayed with the woman in my community. It took nearly an hour for that ambulance to arrive. Now, that is just one example. Some might say, ‘Well, it was only a broken leg’. Okay. I am not even going to get into the argument about the varying levels of health needs of individuals. The simple fact is that the station was located three blocks from where we were at that point in time and it took an hour for the ambulance to arrive. It is about resources. It is about provision. This government has been in place for eight years.

Mr Carbines: Seven and a bit.

Mr WAKELING: Seven and a bit. Well, there we go. I am glad we have the minister, the newly minted minister, at the table. Congratulations. I have not formally congratulated you in this place on your achievement. Seven and a half years—well, there we go. That is the problem that we have here. They will not take responsibility. They are the government. We are not the government; you are the government. You won the election—twice. We get it. People elected you to do a job. Do it; get on with it.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Ferntree Gully, through the Chair.

Mr WAKELING: Thank you very much. I appreciate that, Deputy Speaker. The point of this is that people elect their governments to govern. People elect their governments to provide health services, to provide ambulance services, to ensure that ESTA is adequately resourced. That is your job. That is what you are paid to do.

We understand there is a critical health crisis in this state. We want to slash hospital waiting lists. Why do we want to do that? Because Victorians expect it. That is what they expect from their government. They expect their government to deliver. Members in this house have used this debate as an opportunity to attack the opposition, to attack the Kennett government. I do not know why we did not talk about the Bolte government, why we did not talk about Lindsay Thompson or why we did not talk about all of those former governments. Let us not forget that this is a government that has been in place for nearly eight years—7½ years, as the member opposite rightly points out. For 7½ years you have had an obligation to look after the state. The health system is in crisis. They do not have a plan as a government—through you, Deputy Speaker. They have no plan to fix the health crisis, and Victorians are deeply upset with the performance of this government.