Wednesday, 12 November 2025

 Wayne FARNHAM (Narracan) (19:20): (1397) My adjournment this evening is to the Minister for Health, and the action I seek is that the minister get on to the department and tell them what is going on and what services are required for the new West Gippsland Hospital. It was 12 months ago today that I raised the issue of the West Gippsland Hospital. I asked the government for an update on that hospital after my father died. After 12 months today I finally had a meeting with the Minister for Health Infrastructure to get an idea of what is going on with this project. After talking to the Minister for Health Infrastructure it was very plain to me that the department is the hold-up in this process. The department have not done the work for this project to progress, so it is very hard for me to ask the Minister for Health Infrastructure for an update when the work has not been done. I have pointed out time and time again the need for this hospital in Victoria is probably the greatest need. Having sat down with the Minister for Health Infrastructure today, I actually have empathy with her, because it must be just as frustrating for her as it is for my community when the department is the hold-up and the department is not doing the job.

I do not get how this works. We have an election commitment. It says, ‘We’re going to have X amount of beds. We’re going to have an aged care facility. We’re going to have this, we’re going to have that.’ Why has it taken the department – where are we now – nearly three years? We are three years on from that election commitment. How come it takes that long? What are they getting paid for? For goodness sake, the community needs this hospital. If the department heads or the Department of Health cannot figure it out, I have got a word of advice for the minister: sack them and get people that are competent at their job and can get the job done so this hospital can be built. Twelve months is way too long for any community to wait for an answer on an update. Twelve months is too long. Get the department to get their act together and do their job so the minister for infrastructure at least has a chance to give me an update on when the hospital will be started.