Tuesday, 12 August 2025

Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital

Trung LUU (Western Metropolitan) (17:52): (1809) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Health and concerns a vital service in Melbourne’s west closing its door later this month, being August, following a funding dispute with the Allan Labor government. The action I seek is for the minister to intervene and restore funding for the women’s and children’s immunisation clinic at the Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital in St Albans and to ensure that the drop-in vaccination service remains open to help protect our children from preventable disease. This dispute comes at a time when there are declining childhood vaccination rates under this government. We must explore every opportunity for children to be vaccinated. We must ensure that specialist immunisation services are open, not limited to due to funding restraints. We must prioritise the health and wellbeing of our youngest Victorians.

This clinic, like many others, plays a vital role for local families in Melbourne’s west to stay up to date with their vaccinations and is the only one in the community that offers a walk-in service. This level of accessibility is much appreciated and well utilised. Having these services makes managing the day-to-day duties of being a parent much easier.

I stand with my constituents and the local mothers in the community who have put out petitions to oppose this unnecessary cut by the by the Allan Labor government. The community has many thousands of parents who oppose this cut because it means their children will need to seek their routine vaccinations elsewhere in the local community, including busy GP clinics, which are not always ideal places for families and young ones to visit and where it can be hard to find suitable appointments.

These cuts to this vital service come at a time when the Brimbank local government area has needed the service. There have been reports of cases of measles outbreaks in the last year and a terrifying 146 cases of whooping cough, up from just eight reported the previous year. We need to spend money on preventing these diseases from spreading in the community and protecting our youngest Victorians. I urge the minister to listen to experts, local communities, local councils, health authorities, parents, families and my constituents, who are calling for her to ensure that this funding is made available and that the service is open beyond the month of August this year and to keep the walk-in vaccination clinic at Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital open for our community.