Tuesday, 3 May 2022

Ministers statements: health system

Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (12:09): I am very pleased to rise on behalf of all honourable members to thank each and every one of our health team across hospitals and across all settings within our health system for the amazing work they have done these last couple of years. Of course there are some in this chamber who know and understand and have acknowledged the amazing work they did before the pandemic. So it is only fitting to acknowledge the quite amazing achievement of having so, so many challenges met, having so many patients cared for in unprecedented times—demand shattering all records, a wildly infectious disease—very, very challenging times indeed. But our nurses, our ambos, our allied health professionals—our whole team—have done an amazing job.

Look, I will say to you this: governments are only as good and health systems are only as good as the support that governments provide to our health workers. That is why we have upgraded health buildings across the state—in the centre of Melbourne, in the suburbs, in big regional centres, in the smallest of country towns. And we have recruited more nurses, more paramedics, more doctors, more allied health professionals—the list goes on and on.

We have not cut health funding. We have not taken away from the very health professionals that we are indebted to—all of us—the resources that they need to treat more patients and treat them well. We have in fact boosted the number of staff so that we can have a health system that can meet the challenges—and there are considerable challenges. In a little while the Treasurer will outline yet again a further boost, a pandemic repair plan: thousands of extra staff to support hundreds of thousands of patients across our state and the best care close to home because we do not cut health; we invest in the nurses that are needed.