Thursday, 30 October 2025

 Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (23:24): (2074) My adjournment is to the Minister for Health infrastructure, and the action I seek is that community health funding in Victoria is increased to 3 per cent of the health infrastructure budget. Community health is an essential part of our health ecosystem, providing low-cost services for health care and pension card holders across my electorate and across the state.

Infrastructure Victoria recommended in August this year that the state government increase community health funding from 0.3 per cent currently to 3 per cent of the state’s health infrastructure budget, acknowledging the important role that it plays in early intervention health care and keeping people out of hospital. Community health centres deal with some of the most complex health matters, saving the state $14 for every $1 that is invested. Infrastructure Victoria starts its recent report by stating:

In 2023–24 there were 546,000 emergency department visits in Victoria that could have been avoided if they were managed in the primary and community health sectors. This would have saved Victoria’s public hospitals an estimated $554 million per annum in expenditure in emergency departments. With the right infrastructure and service planning, community health organisations can help ease demand on hospitals by efficiently managing some of these cases in the community.

While operational funding for primary and community health is a shared responsibility between federal and state governments, health infrastructure is largely a state government responsibility. I join my Greens colleagues in calling the decision by governments to not properly fund community health nonsensical and incredibly short-sighted. Just yesterday this chamber passed a Victorian Greens motion calling on Labor to rescue Cohealth with an emergency funding package due to the lack of state government infrastructure funding and inadequate Medicare funding that is not sufficient to cover the complex healthcare cases they deal with. The state government has dropped the ball, and the community is paying the price.

When I look at the Southern Metro Region I see many community health organisations struggling with the same broken funding model. The Better Health Network is closing in Bentleigh. Patients and staff will reportedly be redirected to sites like Parkdale, but I note that that is a 1-hour journey by public transport, including a lengthy walk between those two locations. Infrastructure Victoria refers to this, stating:

The Parkdale site is located on Nepean Highway, a busy 8-lane road that is not close to public transport.

It has been clear for years that the state’s neglect of community health funding is having a real impact on services and on patient care. I ask the minister to urgently increase community health funding in Victoria from 0.3 per cent to 3 per cent of the health infrastructure budget.