Tuesday, 24 May 2022

Ministers statements: health funding

Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (14:07): I am pleased to rise to update the house on the fact that our health workers, every member of that team, whether it be those working in ambulance, those working at ESTA, those working in hospitals or those working and providing health care in people’s homes, are doing amazing work and they still face very considerable pressure. They still face very considerable challenges when it comes to not only a rise in COVID-19 cases and this latest subvariant but also rising flu cases, given that our borders are open and we have flu within our Victorian community.

Winter is always a challenging time for our health system. It is made more challenging, though, by a combination of flu and COVID. Whilst there are very few rules left, and whilst for many of us the pandemic is in essence over, our nurses, our ambos, our doctors—the whole team—are treating hundreds and hundreds of patients in inpatient settings and many others at home. Our thoughts are with them of course, and it is important to acknowledge the contribution that they continue to make all these months later. They are exhausted. They are the best of us, and the key point is they have our strong support—$12 billion in additional support to help them, to recruit extra staff, to provide better care, to upgrade to the best of equipment, to build new facilities, to give them every support that is possible, not just now but right throughout these next four years, the budget period. This is an unprecedented boost. It is the best and perhaps only way to say thank you, not just in words and certainly not in political stunts. It is about putting patients first and thanking those who are highly skilled, highly compassionate and highly motivated to provide the best care with the resources they need—not cutbacks but more resources to do even better work.