Tuesday, 9 December 2025

 Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services) (14:13): I rise to thank our hardworking healthcare workers for their commitment to delivering world-class care to Victorians wherever they live. Over 123,000 Victorians work in our public healthcare system, and we know that our healthcare workers are absolutely committed to delivering the highest quality of care. Whether it is the more than 212,000 planned surgeries that were delivered last year, the 400,000 code 1 ambulance call-outs or the 2 million presentations to our emergency departments, behind each and every stat is a team of nurses, midwives, ambos, allied health professionals, cooks, cleaners, doctors, admin teams, orderlies, pharmacists, theatre techs and so many more that come to work every day to do what matters and to deliver for the people of Victoria.

Our healthcare workers continue to innovate and look at opportunities to expand health care right across the state, including for Naja, the very first patient to receive care from our virtual hospital here in Victoria, building of course on the hundreds of thousands of people who have received care through the virtual emergency department; for Sue, who was the first regional patient to receive a cochlear implant at a regional hospital, at GV Health in Shepparton; over 64,000 consultations delivered through our Chemist Care Now program; for the hundreds of families who have had their babies born as a result of our government’s investment in public IVF; and new services that have been brought online at all of our community hospitals. And of course we have seen our healthcare workers embrace and contribute to our nation-leading work on women’s health and pain. We thank our healthcare workers for their work.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Members will be removed from the chamber without warning, member for Tarneit.