Wednesday, 3 December 2025

 Martin CAMERON (Morwell) (16:02): (1446) My constituency question is for the Minister for Health, and the question is: why won’t the government consider funding a palliative care facility in Gippsland? I have written to the minister twice this year with requests to meet, but those requests have been ignored. The state government contributed $5 million towards a standalone hospice facility in Geelong, but so far the minister refuses to entertain the idea of a similar facility in Gippsland. Latrobe City Council have also asked this government to work with them to find a suitable location for a palliative care unit, to no avail. The former Latrobe health advocate, appointed by Labor specifically to advise the government on health issues facing the Latrobe Valley, called on the government to build a palliative care facility in the region. In the Latrobe Valley people are dying in pain, without adequate care and without dignity. There are just five palliative care beds at Latrobe Regional Hospital, which is entirely inadequate for a region with a population of 80,000 people.