Friday, 14 November 2025

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (21:39): (2128) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Health, and the action that I seek is for the minister to commit funding for the completion of the integrated cancer centre at Goulburn Valley Health. When the Minister for Health toured Goulburn Valley Health in 2023 to view the progress on stage 1 of the development works, the minister referred to the works as the final stage of the hospital’s redevelopment. That statement shocked and enraged our entire community, because the minister is fully aware that there is a stage 2 of the hospital’s redevelopment, and the state government had even set aside $2 million in the 2019 budget towards planning for stage 2 of the works. I have continued to forcefully advocate for the state government to fund all components of stage 2 of the hospital’s redevelopment, including increased acute and subacute inpatient capacity, additional places for ambulatory care, services for specialist clinics, additional car parking and a helipad, and clinical support and diagnostic services. It is vital that this second stage is fully completed so that the hospital can deliver expanded and improved medical services that are necessary for closing treatment gaps in our region.

One of the most urgently needed components of the hospital’s 2021 master plan is the construction of an integrated cancer centre in one building at Shepparton hospital. GV Health is the only public health service in regional Victoria that does not offer comprehensive cancer treatment facilities. Whilst the first stage of the new cancer centre, which has been funded by federal funding, will create room for more patients, radiotherapy will remain offsite. Finishing the second stage of the cancer centre will bring all oncology services under one roof so that patients from our region can get the care they need in one place without having to travel for treatment.

The federal government committed $26 million to cover planning, design and the start of construction for the integrated cancer centre, and Goulburn Valley Health recently announced the good news that they are in the process of appointing consultants to carry out the detailed design work. But now the state government needs to step up and provide the rest of the funding needed to complete construction of the cancer centre, and this is estimated to be about $90 million. This is a drop in the bucket for a government that spends billions of dollars of Victorian taxpayer money on big metropolitan projects yet so often fails to do the right thing by rural and regional Victorians by funding the health services that they deserve. An integrated cancer centre at the hospital is one of the top priorities for the City of Greater Shepparton, and the state government must now do its part and provide the necessary funding to complete the cancer centre.