Tuesday, 24 May 2022

Ministers statements: health funding

Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (14:37): I am pleased to be able to rise to make some further comments in relation to investments in our health system. I spoke in my first ministers statement today about $12 billion in additional funding, and it is so pleasing to have those health experts opposite confirm that resources matter. Yes, they do—they absolutely do. And cutting resources never helped any patient anywhere, yet they keep on doing it. You would almost say it is in their blood, it is in their DNA, and it is—it absolutely is. There is also the small matter of the fact that some people who at every stage, using every platform, undermined the health advice throughout the global pandemic now would quite like to run the health system. That does not quite work, I do not think. I do not think that quite computes.

But while others are playing politics and putting politics first, our government and our most recent budget put patients first. It is a shame that my honourable friend the Minister for Health is not here today, because he would be able to talk about a visit he made yesterday to mark the expansion of the emergency department at Werribee Mercy Hospital—and we pay tribute to our denominational hospital partners who do amazing work. Werribee Mercy—extension after extension after extension by our government, and we are proud to have supported them in unprecedented terms.

And of course part of that $236 million boost is to the Casey emergency department at Labor’s Casey Hospital. I well remember that used to be a paddock. They all start as paddocks, and then you turn them into hospitals. Some do not seem to know that. But the Minister for Health was out there with record support, backing our clinicians, our nurses, our doctors and our ambos to treat more patients and do even better things, not through politics, not through pretending to be a clinician or the coroner but in fact through doing what governments should do—backing our nurses to treat more patients.

Ms Vallence: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, I just have some overdue matters which I have raised points of order on in the past: adjournment 6290, to the Premier about reclassifying the Yarra Valley as regional Victoria, and adjournment 6310, also to the Premier, in relation to disaster recovery relief for the Yarra Ranges.

Mr R Smith: On a point of order, I am just raising, Deputy Speaker, four questions that remain unanswered: questions 6390, 6389, 6220 and 5899. The last one was due to be answered on 9 July 2021 by the member for Albert Park, the Minister for Ambulance Services. I have raised this with the Speaker on a number of occasions now. Hopefully your intervention will bring results where his intervention has yet failed to.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I will refer the matters raised through points of order to the Speaker on his return, and we do wish him well as he recovers from COVID.