Thursday, 20 November 2025

 Jess WILSON (Kew – Leader of the Opposition) (14:10): My question is to the Premier. Labor is spending $21 million a day on interest. Just one day of interest is enough to employ more than 200 additional paramedics for a year. Why should Victorians like Mrs Lois Casboult suffer because this government cannot manage money?

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:11): In answering the question from the member for Kew, the Leader of the Opposition, I refer to the Minister for Health’s earlier answer and also acknowledge Mrs Casboult, who has clearly had a really awful accident in the home and has received excellent quality care from the paramedics, the doctors and the healthcare workers who have treated her. I thank those healthcare professionals for their care for Mrs Casboult and others in the member for Narracan’s local community. I say that in the context of answering the Leader of the Opposition’s question because she raised doubt about the quality of care that Mrs Casboult was receiving, and I will not accept that in terms of the quality of care that our health workers deliver in this state.

Brad Rowswell: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is debating the question.

The SPEAKER: I do not uphold the point of order.

Jacinta ALLAN: The Leader of the Opposition raised a matter about resourcing of our ambulance services and paramedics. We are proud of the fact that we have doubled the paramedic workforce in this state, which means there are more paramedics who are able to treat patients like Mrs Casboult and others not only in metropolitan areas but in many parts of regional Victoria as well. I also note the Minister for Health’s answer went to how the paramedics worked with the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department, another outstanding example of how we are not only delivering expanded health care, we are looking at new ways of delivering that care as well. I also note that there are more ambulance stations that are opening up. We have 41 new or upgraded ambulance stations –

Brad Rowswell: On a point of order, Speaker, in relation to relevance, the Premier is talking about a broad range of issues, none which help Lois in this circumstance and none which go to the substance of the question in relation to the government’s management of money.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Mordialloc is warned.

Ben Carroll: There is no point of order, Speaker. The question went directly to paramedics and ambulance services. The Premier has spoken about Mrs Casboult, the care she got and the virtual emergency department, as well as paramedics. She could not have been more fulsome in her answer.

The SPEAKER: I do not uphold the point of order. The Premier was being relevant.

Jacinta ALLAN: We will continue to support our hardworking paramedics, and I acknowledge the work that the minister and Ambulance Victoria are doing also to continue to look at new ways to reform the interface between ambulances and our hospital services. As I was saying too, we have 41 new and upgraded ambulance stations across the state – just some examples –

Bridget Vallence: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is debating the question.

The SPEAKER: The Premier is not debating the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: We have some examples. New ambulance stations in Manor Lakes, for example ‍– supporting that growing community – in Epping, in Craigieburn and in Karingal are just some examples. This is what you have when you are focused on delivering quality healthcare services. We should be proud of the fact here in Victoria that we do have a world-class healthcare system, and it is only Labor governments that invest in and back that system and back our healthcare workers.

Members interjecting.

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

Member for Euroa withdrew from chamber.

 Jess WILSON (Kew – Leader of the Opposition) (14:15): Last year more than 800 students graduated with a paramedicine degree, but they are competing for just 300 jobs. Why has the Premier chosen to run up an interest bill rather than employ the paramedics Victorians desperately need?

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:15): I am very pleased to have the opportunity provided by the Leader of the Opposition to demonstrate to the house the difference our investment in ambulance services is making. Victoria has more qualified ambulance officers than any other state or territory in the nation, and you can only achieve this by making investments in your healthcare system. I said yesterday that we are investing $11.1 billion additional funding in our health system – $11.1 billion that would be cut from our healthcare system to fund the Leader of the Opposition’s black hole. We will always invest in frontline services, not cut like the Liberals.

Brad Rowswell: On a point of order, Speaker, again the Premier is not being relevant to the question. She has not addressed the substance of the supplementary question that the Leader of the Opposition asked.

The SPEAKER: The Premier has concluded her answer.