Wednesday, 29 July 2026

 Wayne FARNHAM (Narracan) (19:11): (1743) My adjournment this evening is to the Premier, and the action I seek is that the Premier visit my community of Narracan and in particular the West Gippsland Hospital. Nobody in my community can be in any doubt of my commitment to the West Gippsland Hospital. Just last week the Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Nationals came to my electorate and re-announced our commitment to the hospital of $850 million – 230 new beds, an emergency department with 33 treatment spaces, a 60-bed residential aged care facility and accommodation for healthcare workers. I have listened to the new Premier today, and the new Premier has stated on numerous occasions, ‘I’m not Daniel Andrews’, and he is not the member for Bendigo East, the former Premier, Premier Allan. So let us prove it. He wants to talk about integrity. He mentioned that several times today. Well, those last two premiers did not visit the West Gippsland Hospital, so will the new Premier be any different? Will the new Premier go out of his way, drive down the highway, visit the hospital, look at the condition of the hospital and listen to the nurses, the doctors and all the staff there about the horror stories of the hospital? They do a great job. But is the new Premier going to be any different? Is the new Premier going to match our commitment on the West Gippsland Hospital and actually do something the other premiers could not do and start the hospital? I know under a Liberal coalition government we will start the hospital.

The problem the new Premier has now is integrity. I do not think anyone in my community will believe him, even if he said he would, not after he has turned around and said, ‘You have my full support. I will back you the whole way. I want to stand in front of my daughter and say this is what I did.’ He then turned around and knifed the former Premier in the back. So let us test out the integrity of the new Premier. Let us test out if he is different to Daniel Andrews and if he is different to the former Premier, the member for Bendigo East. I ask him urgently to come down, have a look at West Gippsland Hospital and listen to my community.