Wednesday, 13 May 2026

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:32): Our Labor government backs the hospitals and health care that Victorian families rely on. We do this through investing $250 million to open and expand hospital services across the state, and we can do that because we have invested in the health and hospital infrastructure through which these services are being delivered. There is $50 million to get more kids surgery sooner: 4000 more planned surgeries for kids, 45,000 more specialist clinic appointments. Of course we have backed our nurses. There are 17,000 more nurses and midwives today, and we have backed them with a 28.4 per cent pay rise because care and cost of living are not separate ideas.

When your child needs surgery, every delay matters, every appointment matters. Every extra trip, every day off work and every anxious night waiting up for that care all adds up. I certainly know that feeling because when our daughter Peggy was little she needed a lot of hospital care and surgery. I will never forget the care that the nurses gave to our family. When I talk about backing nurses, hospitals and children’s surgery, I know from my own experience what that means for families. That is what drives me and our government: making sure that we are backing the people who care for us and the services that families need.

We know that there are some who have a different approach, an approach to cut $40 billion out of this state. That would cut nurses. That would cut surgery. That would put those nurses left under more pressure, families under pressure, services at risk. That is what is at stake. You cannot cut without impacting families and impacting kids, and that is why our Labor government always invests in health.