Thursday, 23 March 2023

Adjournment

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy, Minister for Equality) (16:01): After a very long week, I move:

That the house do now adjourn.

Goulburn Valley Health

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (16:01): (138) My adjournment matter is directed to the Minister for Health, and the action that I seek is for the minister to ensure that the 2023–24 state budget includes a funding commitment that fully completes the redevelopment of Goulburn Valley Health (GV Health) as well as a funding commitment of around $25 million to establish a clinical health school in Shepparton to address a significant shortage of health workers in the region. Since being elected to office in 2014 the Andrews Labor government has overpromised and underdelivered on many infrastructure projects throughout Victoria. Projects that have been delivered are always well over budget, and nearly all have been completed well past their original completion date. As this government is known more for its spin than its substance, each project is accompanied with a media release raining praise on the government.

This situation occurred last Thursday in Shepparton when the health minister toured stage 1 works of hospital’s redevelopment. Disturbingly, the media release issued by the health minister Mary-Anne Thomas announcing the completion of the stage 1 works referred to the works as the ‘final stage’ of the redevelopment. This statement is incorrect. The minister knows that the current work is just stage 1 of the hospital’s redevelopment, evidenced by the government commitment of $2 million in the 2019 state budget to develop a business case for the completion of the redevelopment. Some of the vital components that still need to be funded to complete the redevelopment include increased acute and subacute inpatient capacity, additional places for ambulatory care services for clinics, community health, chronic disease management and allied health, the integrated cancer centre, additional car parking and a helipad. Also, for GV Health to deliver the best possible health outcomes for our community, Labor must commit significant funding to establish a clinical health school on the Graham Street site. La Trobe University studies show that people who train in regional areas are more likely to stay there, and a clinical school will help address the shortage of local nurses, midwives and allied health workers in the region.

This Labor government is also going to great lengths to prevent the release of the business case, which I first FOIed in 2021. This FOI has been subject to delay after delay, and when the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner ruled last month that the government should release parts of it and a PowerPoint presentation, the government referred the matter to VCAT, probably because the business case reinforces the dire need for the redevelopment of GV Health to be completed.