Thursday, 29 August 2024

Adjournment

Gayle TIERNEY (Western Victoria – Minister for Skills and TAFE, Minister for Regional Development) (17:44): I move:

That the house do now adjourn.

Health funding

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (17:44): (1101) I have an adjournment matter for the Minister for Health, and it is in relation to the budget cuts to health services that have been in the news for many months now. As we know, in May the minister wrote to Victorian health services, telling them their budgets would be cut significantly. The department secretary followed up with a letter, almost echoing the words of the minister in his letter. The minister at the time of her letter said that there would be no further funding provided. There was quite a concern around the community, as you could understand. Many Victorians were very concerned about what these funding cuts were going to do – the loss of services, loss of jobs and a loss of a local voice – and there were rallies around Victoria. The community came out in force to speak about the funding cuts. The government then were forced to make an announcement on 8 August that they would provide $1.5 billion of extra health funding, after the sustained campaign that I spoke about. The Treasurer at the time was most upset. He was sort of having a bit of a go at the Premier and the Minister for Health on it and actually gave them a bit of a swipe in passing with his words.

It is actually very concerning, because there has been no transparency around this funding and no detail on the carve-up of the funding, the $1.5 billion. We are still in the dark about which health services are getting what from that $1.5 billion. The minister herself has said there will be no frontline services cut. Yet a lot of back-of-house roles that are going to be subjected to these cuts are held by women. They rely on these jobs to support their families, and in a cost-of-living crisis this is going to have a massive impact on thousands of women right across the state who are going to lose their jobs. So the action I seek is for the minister to provide what advice she has received as to how many women working in these back-office roles will lose their jobs as a result of the government’s budget cuts.