Wednesday, 30 August 2023

Ministers statements: healthcare workforce

Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Health Infrastructure, Minister for Medical Research) (14:35): I rise today to update the house on how the Andrews Labor government is doing what matters through our continued commitment to our health workforce. Over 340,000 workers in Victoria are in the healthcare system. That is almost one in 10 Victorian workers. Nearly one-quarter of these workers live in rural and regional Victoria, ensuring access to health care for regional Victorians and of course supporting and growing strong communities in rural and regional Victoria.

These workers contribute $63 billion to our economy every year, and since we came to government in 2014 our nursing workforce has increased by almost 30 per cent and our medical workforce – doctors – has increased by almost 50 per cent. But we will not stop there. We will keep working to grow our healthcare workforce. It is why we are making it free for 10,000 students to study to become nurses and midwives and work in our healthcare system. We have sign-on bonuses for new nursing and midwifery graduates. We are investing $32 million to support trainee junior doctors who choose the general practice specialty so that we can grow our general practice workforce. Of course we will deliver on our world-leading commitment to nurse-to-patient ratios that means that Victoria is such an attractive place for nurses to come and work. That is why we have recruited already 2000 international healthcare workers with 1000 more to follow. Only Labor will continue to support our healthcare workers. We will not go to war with them. We do not disrespect them. We will support them every step of the way.