Thursday, 5 February 2026

 Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:44): (2284) My adjournment is for the Minister for Health. Will the minister update the house on the services available to patients and the broader community at Cranbourne Community Hospital? I note that the Liberal Party has doubled down this week on talking down Cranbourne’s new community hospital. They claim it is not a real hospital. We know that the Liberals do not like investments in the healthcare system; they would rather make cuts to it. But I would advise my colleagues across the aisle: if you are going to spread misinformation saying it is not a hospital, perhaps do not do it while standing at the entrance of that building under the sign saying ‘hospital’. I realise that there is some confusion amongst the Liberals about what a hospital actually is. This is the same lot of course who asked one of the doctors who set up Victoria’s virtual ED if they had ever heard of a virtual ED being set up in operation anywhere.

Let us see if we can clear this all up, shall we? We are not claiming that Cranbourne Community is a full-scale tertiary hospital by any means. If we are going to talk about that, I would instead be talking about the $1.1 billion investment in the new rebuilt Peninsula University Hospital, formerly Frankston hospital, the largest single investment in a hospital in this state’s history outside of inner Melbourne. It is a terrific hospital that has just opened, and incidentally it is just up the road from Cranbourne as well. Cranbourne Community may not be set up as a tertiary hospital or as a trauma centre, but it was never intended to be. The hint is in the name: community hospital. But what it is doing as a further investment in the south-east health infrastructure is already playing a role in providing health services closer to home as well as alleviating pressure on other hospitals very close by, including Casey, including Dandenong and indeed, yes, including the new Peninsula University Hospital, and none of that good work that this centre is doing is undermined by the lack of a helipad on the roof.

Whilst the Liberal Party may have gotten themselves into a semantics-based fluster, it is at least good to see that they are finally acknowledging and highlighting in fact the many healthcare investments in the south-east made by the Allan Labor government, including the urgent care clinic at Narregate in Narre Warren North, initially funded as part of the priority care centres initiative of this government in the face of complete inaction by the federal Liberal Party, a site which to this day is still 50–50 funded by the Allan Labor government and the federal Labor government.

I do not know what has the Liberals in such a flap. Maybe they do not want to acknowledge that Cranbourne Community Hospital is an actual hospital because it is going to form part of their secret list of cuts to fill their $11.1 billion budget black hole. But whatever you choose to call it, this Cranbourne Community Hospital is already delivering for the community and is another example of this government providing our growing outer suburbs with the healthcare infrastructure and services that we need.