Thursday, 10 February 2022

Health system

Mr QUILTY (Northern Victoria) (22:15): (1734) My adjournment matter is yet again for the Minister for Health. Victoria has the highest taxes of any state in Australia yet has some of the worst health outcomes in the country. The government is eager to convince people that our hospital system is struggling solely because of coronavirus, but it is not just COVID. The president of the Australian Medical Association backs this analysis, saying that Victorian hospitals have been faring extraordinarily poorly for decades and that COVID is merely exposing the problems that were already there. Victoria has worse emergency performance than every other state in Australia, except South Australia. A 2021 report found that only 62 per cent of level 2 emergency patients were seen on time in Victoria, compared to 79 per cent in New South Wales. Health economist and secretary of the commonwealth Department of Health Professor Stephen Duckett argues that waiting times for emergency care in hospitals in Victoria are longer than they should be and that this is a sign that emergency departments are not doing well.

The government has responded to the problem by pointing to new spending on additional beds and hospital infrastructure, but Professor Duckett explains that fewer beds per patient is a sign of an efficient health system. The goal is not to spend the most, it is to get the most out of your spending. And the problem is not the lack of government revenue—again, this government taxes more than any other state government in Australia—the problem is the government is wasteful. The system is crumbling as the backlog for elective surgeries continues to grow. President of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Sally Langley explains that elective surgeries often address life-threatening and severe conditions and that blanket bans on elective surgeries are wrong. She is concerned that the lack of screening will result in patients presenting with more advanced cancers and severely diminished outcomes. Banning elective surgery kills. The only responses this government knows are to ban things and to throw money at them. It does not work. I call on the minister to lift the ban on elective surgery and to improve our hospital outcomes, preferably without increasing our already highest taxes.