Melton hospital
Dr CUMMING (Western Metropolitan) (13:40): My question is to the Minister for Health in the other place. Can the minister please clarify the funding for the Melton hospital and the time line for its completion? Before the 2018 election the Premier made announcements about the construction of a number of new hospitals, including a much-needed hospital for Melton. Last July, in 2021, the minister stated that the money would be set aside in this year’s budget for construction, which he hoped would begin within the next 12 months, and that it was expected to be fully operational by 2026–27. Yet two weeks ago the Premier visited the site and said that construction would begin within two years and be completed by 2029. And in the latest budget there are no money amounts given for the hospital.
Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (13:41): Thank you, Dr Cumming, for your question. I am not the Minister for Health, so I am not 100 per cent sure of the exact details of this case, but I am pretty sure there was $900 million in the budget for the Melton hospital, a fantastic investment that will be much valued and much welcomed in that community. Last year’s budget I think had money in it for the land acquisition, and this is appropriate. You plan, you identify a site, you buy the site, you build the hospital and you employ the people. That is generally how it goes. But because I am not across the absolute detail of this request that you have made of the Minister for Health—
Ms Crozier interjected.
Ms SYMES: Ms Crozier, it is Dr Cumming’s question. You have been a bit chatty today, and it is a little bit distracting. Dr Cumming, I will seek a detailed response from the Minister for Health, and if Ms Crozier would like to ask me the next question then we could get her the information too.
Dr CUMMING (Western Metropolitan) (13:42): Thank you, Attorney, and I look forward to the minister’s response. Can the minister please clarify the current situation concerning the construction of the community hospitals at Point Cook and Sunbury? Again, back in 2018, before the election the Premier promised to build 10 community hospitals, including one in Point Cook and one in Sunbury. The fact sheets are still on his website and state that Sunbury will be open in 2023 and Point Cook in 2024. In 2019 the government said construction for the $675 million community hospital program would start by 2022—I think that is this year—and finish by 2024, but there is just $20 million set aside to spend in the 2022–23 budget. You would expect hospitals would be, I don’t know, a priority in a pandemic.
The PRESIDENT: Dr Cumming, I have an issue with your supplementary. Your first question was about the Melton hospital funding, and then you went to other places you named—Sunbury and other places. I am sorry, but this is a completely different question. I am going to give you a chance. Please stick to the question and to the answer in your supplementary.
Dr CUMMING: I guess my first question could be, ‘Could the minister please clarify the funding for health, or hospitals, in the Western Metropolitan Region, for their construction?’. But obviously all the questions that I have just raised are about construction of hospitals in the west.
The PRESIDENT: Dr Cumming, I gave you the opportunity. If you do not want to stick to the rules of the house, it is your call. I rule it out. You had the opportunity, but you did not do it.
Dr CUMMING: President, just to clarify, my substantive question is there, but you are just saying that my supplementary question is ruled out due to lack of interest by this government.
Ms Pulford: On a point of order, President, Dr Cumming was reflecting on your ruling. She was suggesting that her supplementary being ruled out had something to do with budget outcomes and funding and government commitments and priorities, when in fact it was just plainly out of order.
The PRESIDENT: For the whole house, I have to be fair with everybody. I have to be fair with the question and the supplementary, and I tried. Dr Cumming, I tried to give you that opportunity, and you did not take it. I ruled it out, and then you made the comment. Ms Pulford has got a point. I ask you to withdraw your last comment.
Dr CUMMING: For you, President, I will withdraw that comment.
The PRESIDENT: For the chamber, not for me. Thank you.