Wednesday, 8 February 2023

Adjournment

Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers, Minister for Child Protection and Family Services) (17:26): I move:

That the house do now adjourn.

Health workforce

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (17:26): (17) My adjournment matter is for the attention of the Minister for Health. It is in relation to a largely federal issue, but it does affect Victorian healthcare workers. This has been obviously subject to the ministerial council and the Premier and the Minister for Health in relation to saying that they are getting more overseas healthcare workers in. We know that there have been issues in a number of workforce areas, but it is true that because of visa stuff-ups there are nurses who cannot come into Victoria and start working, and this is particularly hitting areas in rural and regional Victoria. Of course these areas are the ones that are desperate in many instances to have healthcare workers in place.

We know that there are towns in country Victoria that do not have a GP. I know towns around the area where I grew up do not have a GP. I am not blaming the state government for that – that is a federal issue – but I am highlighting the shortages of healthcare workers in these areas. But what I am specifically interested in is how many nurses there are who have been caught up in this visa bungle by the federal government. We know, according to reports, that thousands of migrant nurses and others working in the healthcare system have been caught up; they have been left waiting for months because of failures in the ability for visas to be processed. Reports are saying that 90 per cent of regional visas are taking 27 months to be processed. This is actually causing an enormous issue for these regional areas.

Victoria is no different from other states around the country. We have seen a lot of bluster from the Premier, saying he is getting on with fixing the problems, but it is his federal counterparts who have actually overseen this massive bungle and this issue needs to be absolutely addressed. What I was completely horrified by was the comment from the federal minister Mr Giles’s office, who were seeking further information on this matter rather than getting on and saying ‘We need to fix this; I’m onto it’ and just getting some action happening rather than this wishy-washy, pathetic response.

This is dire here in Victoria, and we need to understand the state of our health system and where these shortages are that I have been talking about for many, many months. This issue is going to the heart of that. So the action I seek is: how many nurses who have been applying for a visa to work in Victoria have been caught up in this visa bungle?