Health services
Emma KEALY (Lowan) (16:31): I condemn the Allan Labor government for their failure to manage Victoria’s public health system, and Victorians are paying the price. Across the state we are seeing the catastrophic impact of Labor’s funding cuts to our public health services. We all know that that can only mean one thing, and that is cuts to health services that Victorians need and deserve. Why on earth are we getting funding towards projects that are putting money in the CFMEU’s pockets to go back to be donated to Labor to fund their own election campaigns for their own ambitions and meanwhile we have got Victorians who cannot access health services? This is exactly what we see in Victoria. You are leaving nurses high and dry. They are working double shifts. They are burnt out and stressed because Labor is not prioritising their needs. We have got paramedics who are burnt out because they are not getting support. They are stuck, frustrated, on the driveways of hospitals and are unable to answer calls because Labor has failed to stand up for paramedics. What is more, we have got forced mergers of hospitals, which is just resulting in loss of services, loss of local decision-making and loss of local staff. The Allan Labor government have completely stuffed up the health system in Victoria. It is a blight on each and every one of these Labor members, who have turned their back on Victorian health care, and every single Victorian is paying the price for Labor’s mismanagement of the health system in Victoria.