Tuesday, 18 February 2020

Adjournment

Maryborough hospital

Ms STALEY (Ripon) (19:00): (1863) My adjournment is to the Minister for Health in the other place, and the action I seek is that she ensures the full $100 million promised by Labor for a new Maryborough hospital is allocated in the upcoming May budget, as anything less than the total amount will be a clear broken promise. On 31 October 2018 a media release from the Premier announced that a re-elected Andrews Labor government would:

… provide $100 million to transform the Maryborough Hospital, giving patients the quality care they need, and doctors and nurses the facilities they deserve.

I matched that commitment on the same day. A bit later than that, on 23 November 2018, the then—and now—Treasurer put out a media release attacking me and my party because we had said that we would stage the funding of the Maryborough hospital over two terms. The Treasurer’s media release related that this was no good, and he reiterated that:

A re-elected Labor Government will invest $100 million to rebuild Maryborough Hospital, which will include acute medical and surgery beds, another operating theatre and more consultation rooms.

Finally, on 27 May last year, Minister Mikakos put out another media release, entitled ‘Building the Best Hospitals for Victorian Patients’, which included the line:

The $100 million redevelopment of Maryborough Hospital is on track …

However, in last year’s budget Maryborough hospital was not funded, and so it will need to be funded in this budget in full if the government is to in fact fulfil its promise prior to the last election and deliver a $100 million hospital to the people of Maryborough in this term. So I therefore request the minister ensure that in this upcoming budget she makes sure that that $100 million is allocated, because otherwise the good people of Maryborough will be very entitled to say to her and to the Andrews Labor government that this is in fact a broken promise.