Cohealth
Gabrielle DE VIETRI (Richmond) (14:30): My question is for the health minister. Last night in the upper house the government, the crossbench and the opposition all passed a motion agreeing to an emergency funding package to save Cohealth in Collingwood, Fitzroy and Kensington. Will the government now honour the resolution and deliver the funding?
Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services) (14:31): I thank the member for Richmond for her question. Rather than debating motions in Parliament, I actually met today with the CEO of Cohealth. My office continues to engage with the federal health minister’s office on this very matter to understand the actual challenge. We need to be clear, because I do not want people spreading misinformation in the community. The challenge that Cohealth are facing at the moment is in relation to the delivery of primary care – primary care that is funded by Medicare – and their unique challenge is the fact that they serve the needs of very complex patients who take longer to deliver care for. My conversations with the federal minister Mark Butler have been about the need to recognise this particular challenge that Cohealth faces.
Here on this side of the house we have always backed in our community health services. I made the point the other day, when asked this, that it was a Labor Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, who established community health here, and I have been a champion of community health at every opportunity that I have got. Our community health centres, which are independent organisations, governed by their own boards and managing their own facilities, rely on funding from a range of sources. That includes the state government through my own department, and indeed we are very pleased to be able to back Cohealth with $68 million in grant funding for programs this year; the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing; of course the federal government, through Medicare; local government; and indeed philanthropy. I will continue to fight for Cohealth, but I will do it not by empty words in the Parliament but by engaging with the federal minister and engaging with Cohealth. I have a longstanding relationship with Cohealth and the CEO Nicole Bartholomeusz.
I might say it is a bit hypocritical of the Liberals to be standing up and trying to suggest that they support Cohealth when they have attacked their models of care every single day as we have been seeking to deliver alcohol and drug care in Flinders Street in the city. That has been attacked consistently by those on the other side.
James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, I do not know if the minister is confused. This was a question from the Greens, and she is sledging the opposition.
The SPEAKER: There is no point of order. The Minister for Health has concluded.
Gabrielle DE VIETRI (Richmond) (14:34): I really do appreciate the minister’s attention and advocacy on this matter. But it is not just about primary care; it is also about infrastructure, and health infrastructure funding is firmly in the state government’s responsibility. The government would know that Cohealth have been sounding the alarm for years about their crumbling Collingwood building. Back in 2022 the health minister then told Cohealth that Victorian Labor would contribute $25 million to upgrade their building. When it was not in the budget, they assured Cohealth it would be an election promise. Three years on, still nothing. This cannot actually wait for another election promise that does not get delivered. Something as important as the health of our community should not be pork-barrelled. Will the minister commit to the infrastructure funding to save Collingwood Cohealth before it is forced to shut its doors?
Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services) (14:35): I thank the member for Richmond for her question. The member for Richmond should know – indeed I spoke to this question just the other day – that there have been a range of programs initiated by our government, both the Regional Health Infrastructure Fund and the Metropolitan Health Infrastructure Fund, both of which have been available over many years for community health services to access. But we continue to work with our community health sector to understand their infrastructure needs. But I will make the point again, as I have already done, that this is a responsibility that is shared not just by the state government but with the federal government. Of course we saw complete neglect by the previous federal Liberal–National government, who had no regard whatsoever for community health indeed –
Gabrielle de Vietri: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, the minister’s statement about the federal government being responsible for health infrastructure funding is clearly not accurate.
Mary-Anne THOMAS: I just make the point that there are plenty of cases where the federal government has provided funding to community health.