Wednesday, 19 November 2025

 Jess WILSON (Kew – Leader of the Opposition) (14:03): My question is to the Premier. Labor is spending $21 million a day on interest. At the same time, nearly 59,000 Victorians are stuck on surgery waiting lists. How many surgeries can be performed for $21 million?

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:03): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question and an opportunity to discuss the health and hospital system and how we have a health and hospital system –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Members will come to order.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on the relevance rule, the Premier has just said she is deliberately going to misuse this chamber and not answer questions in question time. This is not a discussion; this is question time, where questions are put to the executive government and they answer them.

The SPEAKER: What is your point of order?

James Newbury: Relevance.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier has just commenced her answer. I think it is appropriate to give the Premier the opportunity to answer the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: I was asked about additional surgery in our hospital system. I remind the house of the state budget that was handed down earlier this year, a state budget that delivered an additional $11.1 billion to our health system. That funding will be directed to many things in our health system: employing more nurses, employing more healthcare workers and delivering more surgery for more Victorians. That $11.1 billion figure has a familiar ring to it, because of course there are no surgeries being done under an $11 billion black hole from those opposite.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Members are going to be removed from the chamber without warning.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, this question was about the cost and impact of debt. The Premier is being evasive and is not answering that specific question. The Premier is misusing question time every day.

The SPEAKER: I would ask the member for Brighton to state his point of order appropriately. There is a correct way to raise a point of order.

Mary-Anne Thomas: On the point of order, Speaker, it is clear that there is no point of order. The question to the Premier went to planned surgeries, and the Premier is being directly responsive and relevant to that question. The facts are that those on the other side of the house do not want to hear the Premier compare and contrast the investments that our government is making with the $11.1 billion black hole that the Leader of the Opposition is delivering.

Danny O’Brien: On the point of order, Speaker, the Premier is clearly both debating and not being relevant to the question. It is very straightforward: how many surgeries for $21 million?

The SPEAKER: The Premier was being relevant to the question that was asked.

Jacinta ALLAN: Again, we are making the investments in our hospital system to deliver more surgery, to employ more nurses and to deliver those nurses and midwives the pay rise that they deserve for keeping us safe and well in our health and hospital system. I know that this is difficult for those opposite to understand. Whenever they have had the opportunity, they have only ever cut funding to our hospitals.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, we are seeing a pattern of behaviour where the Premier is refusing to deal with the substance of the question. What is the point of question time?

The SPEAKER: Manager of Opposition Business, I would ask you to state your point of order succinctly. It is not an opportunity to make a statement to the house. The Premier is being relevant, but I do remind the Premier not to attack the opposition.

Jacinta ALLAN: I know it upsets the member for Brighton. I will do my best. We are investing an $11.1 billion additional amount of funding into our hospital system, and we are doing it precisely so we can treat more patients and provide more care. But beyond that, we also understand that we need to deliver new and different models of care closer to where people live, which is why the virtual emergency department is so important. It is why care at the chemist is so important. Because we understand, from being on the side of working people and their families here in Victoria, we invest in our health and hospital system. We back the nurses and healthcare workers who work in our system, and we support the additional patients that need the care that they get in our world-class health system here in Victoria.

 Jess WILSON (Kew – Leader of the Opposition) (14:09): Premier, how many graduate nurses can be employed for $21 million?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Point Cook can leave the chamber for half an hour.

Member for Point Cook withdrew from chamber.

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:09): I am delighted to be able to answer this question, because the reason why we can talk about graduate nurses is because we back those graduate nurses. We back them with their university support. We back them too with the pay rise that we provided last –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, the Premier is picking words out of questions and refusing to deal with the substance of the question. How is that responsible?

The SPEAKER: What is your point of order?

James Newbury: The relevance rule has become ridiculous. It has become completely ridiculous, Speaker.

The SPEAKER: If the Manager of Opposition Business has a concern about the standing orders, I invite him to bring those concerns to the Standing Orders Committee. The Premier was being relevant to the question.

James Newbury interjected.

The SPEAKER: I have ruled on the point of order, Manager of Opposition Business.

James Newbury: On a further point of order, Speaker, on the relevance concern, I am raising it when it is being abused in this chamber, which is the appropriate time to raise it.

The SPEAKER: I am the Speaker, and I decide whether the answer is relevant. The question is in front of me; the Premier was being relevant.

Jacinta ALLAN: I want to thank not only the graduate nurses but every single nurse and midwife in our health and hospital system for the work that they do. We back them. We did not go to war with the nurses, like those opposite did. We backed them with a pay rise –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is now sledging and debating the question.

The SPEAKER: The Premier will come back to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: As a result of our additional investments that we have made in the healthcare system, we have seen a 27 per cent increase in the number of healthcare workers who work in our hospital system since 2020. We support them, we back them and we thank them for the work they do every single day in our world-class health system.