Thursday, 6 March 2025

 Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services) (14:13): This year’s International Women’s Day theme is ‘Moving forward’, and that is exactly what the Allan Labor government is doing when it comes to delivering health care for women right across our state. On top of the 20 new women’s health clinics that are being rolled out across the state, I am thrilled that this year alone we have launched three new innovative models of care to support women no matter where they live.

We are delivering Victoria’s first-ever virtual women’s health clinic in partnership with EACH. There are so many reasons why women may not be able to attend a clinic in person, be that cost, transport, mobility or family circumstances. I recently joined the member for Thomastown at the launch of a new dedicated culturally safe women’s health clinic delivered by First Peoples’ Health and Wellbeing at sites in Epping and Frankston. Last Friday I had the absolute pleasure of visiting our first-ever mobile women’s health clinic in Daylesford in my own electorate. BreastScreen Victoria has partnered with us so that their breast bus Nina now also has a women’s health clinic within it. Nina has already been to Mount Beauty and Edenhope and is currently at the Bendigo and District Aboriginal Co-op before heading to Echuca, St Arnaud, Birchip, Warracknabeal and Nhill. I want to give a particular shout-out to our dynamic mobile clinic nurse practitioner Louise Holland, who jumped at the chance to deliver care to women wherever they live. Be it menopause, endometriosis, prolapse or incontinence, Louise is there to meet women where they are at and help address their needs.

This is of course in contrast to those on the other side. We will always move forward with women. We will not be sacking our only woman leader.