Wednesday, 29 July 2026

 Gary MAAS (Narre Warren South) (19:09): (1742) The adjournment matter that I wish to raise is for the Minister for Health Infrastructure and concerns the Casey Hospital emergency department expansion. The action that I seek is that the minister provides an update on how this upgrade will benefit constituents in my electorate of Narre Warren South. Like many in my community, I am pleased that work has recently begun on this major expansion project. The upgrade will create new treatment spaces for more presentations to the emergency department, as well as a dedicated children’s ED zone. As our community grows in the outer south-east our state Labor government knows we need the essential services that we all rely upon to keep pace, including our local health services. That is why this government has invested in the Casey Hospital expansion project, which was completed in 2020, and enabled treatment of more than 25,000 extra patients and thousands more births and procedures each year.

This government has delivered more than 100 health infrastructure upgrades and expansions across Victoria, and we have also built 12 new hospitals across the state, including the new Cranbourne Community Hospital, which I know constituents in my electorate of Narre Warren South are using on a daily basis. This services my local area, and it provides a range of everyday health services while also taking pressure off the nearby Casey Hospital. But in contrast, we know what those opposite would do if they were in government: the privatisation of our hospitals and the major cuts to our health system that we have seen in the past, and cuts to hardworking hospital and healthcare workers. People in my community know how important these services and jobs are, and history shows us that those opposite do not. I look forward to sharing the minister’s response with my community.