Tuesday, 17 March 2020

COVID-19

Mr CARBINES (Ivanhoe) (14:08): The Austin Health coronavirus hotline is available on 9496 6606, seven days a week from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm. Please call the hotline if you are unsure about your symptoms or need advice about when to visit the hospital. The call operator will go through a checklist of criteria with you to determine the best course of action you need to take. The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services also has a self-assessment tool available regarding COVID-19 at www.dhhs.vic.gov.au.

The commonwealth chief medical officer, Professor Brendan Murphy, is well known in my community as the respected past CEO at Austin Health for a decade. He is providing sound leadership and advice, as too is Dr Brett Sutton as chief health officer here in Victoria. To all our clinicians, health workers: as Parliamentary Secretary for Health I want to thank you for your dedication, your commitment to fellow Victorians—particularly at Austin Health, Mercy Health Heidelberg, Warringal Private Hospital, the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, Banyule Community Health service and our ambos locally. They are under great pressure, and they are doing great work in our community.

I would ask all residents to check on your neighbours, the vulnerable, the aged and the isolated in our communities to ensure their welfare is our priority and every support can be offered to them and their families. My electorate office does remain open to support my constituents. There will be social distancing measures in place. Please call and email—drop in if you need to. That is encouraged. We want to offer you every support. And also, a shout-out to our public housing tenants, many of whom are isolated in the community—and they have our full support.