Tuesday, 11 August 2026

 Jade BENHAM (Mildura) (19:06): (1761) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Health in the other place, and the action I seek is to urgently review the recent changes to the Victorian patient transport assistance scheme and to increase reimbursements in accordance with CPI and inflationary costs. Reimbursements for VPTAS have remained largely unchanged for the past 11 ‍years and are now the lowest in Australia, which obviously disproportionately affects the community of Mildura in the great tropical north-west of the state. Prior to the changes, flights to Melbourne were permitted for patients regardless of their physical condition, and since the changes patients must meet the following narrow criteria – and with over 2 minutes left I am going to read them in for you.

Unless you meet these criteria, the options for you to get to Melbourne are a bus that will take you over 8 hours or a 6-hour car ride, as opposed to a 1-hour flight. You have to be undergoing active clinical management with any of the following: requiring ambulatory oxygen, regular urinary catheterisation, frequent nebuliser therapy or a health condition that will be worsened by or difficult to manage during long private vehicle or public transport travel. I would argue that if you are having to travel to Melbourne or to Adelaide and cannot get that treatment in Mildura, just about any condition would meet that criterion, one would think, but patients are having a hell of a time getting reimbursed under this scheme. You could have musculoskeletal instability or restricted mobility with any of the following: a stabilised bone fracture; a muscular disorder where constant movement during long private vehicle or public transport travel would compromise healing or treatment outcomes – again, any broken bone would meet that, I would think; a spinal cord injury – well, that is common sense; or requirement for significant assistance moving which prevents travel in a private vehicle or on a bus – let us not call it public transport, because we do not have a train, so a bus is the only option, or a plane. Or you could have pain management with any of the following: post-operative pain within two weeks of an operation, a prolapsed or herniated disc, bone metastasis, severe pain that will most likely worsen during a long car ride or bus travel or clinical urgency requiring urgent non-emergency treatment arranged at short notice – well, you would certainly hope so, because at times, particularly during the winter months, there are on average 22 medical flights out of Mildura regional airport. Most of those meet those criteria, but those that do not, who need to travel for specialist treatment that we cannot get in Mildura, are currently getting $45 a night towards reimbursement for their accommodation and 21 ‍cents per kilometre. Does that help any of these Victorian patients in a rural or remote setting? I think not.