Wednesday, 5 March 2025

 Will FOWLES (Ringwood) (19:12): (1047) My adjournment matter this evening is directed to the Minister for Health Infrastructure, and the action I seek is for the minister to provide an update to my community on the progress of the Maroondah Hospital redevelopment. Maroondah Hospital has been a cornerstone of health care in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs for decades, but its facilities are no longer fit for purpose. It serves a rapidly growing and ageing population, yet its infrastructure is failing to keep up with demand. Patients, families and frontline health workers are feeling the strain every day. The need for an upgrade is urgent.

In 2018 the government promised a new emergency department at Maroondah, and it was not delivered. Then in 2022 they committed to a full redevelopment and expansion of the hospital. The progress on this, if in fact there has been any, remains a mystery. At the time of the announcement Dan Andrews also proposed the most tin-eared and tone-deaf of new names, the Queen Elizabeth ‍II hospital. This represents a modern-day erasure of Indigenous heritage – just gobsmacking. Indeed it was decried privately at the time by the member for Dandenong as being absolutely incredible that no-one inside the Premier’s private office even realised that Maroondah was an Indigenous word.

The proposed redevelopment should provide a modern, world-class facility capable of meeting the growing needs of our community, but last year’s state budget buried the project within the Hospital Infrastructure Delivery Fund alongside six other hospitals. It has remained bogged down in the planning stage ever since. A line item in the budget is a long, long way from shovels in the ground. The community is still waiting for a clear timeline and for certainty about when this long-promised redevelopment will actually begin. This lack of transparency is completely unacceptable. The demand for quality health care in the east is only accelerating, and the longer the government delays, the greater the impact on patients and hardworking hospital staff. We cannot allow this to become another project that is continually pushed off into the never-never while families in my community are left behind. That is why I urge the minister to urgently provide a clear update on the progress of the Maroondah rebuild and confirm when we can expect work to begin so that this vital project is delivered as soon as possible for our community. The people of this region have been promised a hospital that meets their needs. It is time for the government to deliver.