Wednesday, 13 May 2026

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:38): (1324) My question is to the Minister for Health. Alex is 17 years old and is profoundly autistic. He has been waiting for basic dental care since February 2024, including a check-up X-ray and a clean, which he needs to have under a general anaesthetic. He was deemed to be a category 2 patient – treatment required within 90 days – but instead he has been waiting 835 days and his parents have been told that he will not be seen until at least July or August. Minister, why are vulnerable Victorians like Alex waiting for over 900 days before they can be seen for necessary dental care?

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Health, Minister for Water) (12:39): Thank you very much, Ms Crozier, for raising this issue with me today. As I said yesterday – and as is common practice, including when you were in government – I am not going to be commenting on individual cases in the house.

David Davis interjected.

Harriet SHING: I am going to take you up on that interjection, Mr Davis, because when you were the minister you made it very clear that you would not comment on individual cases. I would invite you, Mr Davis, to check Hansard in that regard. You made it extremely clear that it was important to have conversations about individual matters when and as detailed information is able to be provided.

Ms Crozier, every Victorian expects – and reasonably – the opportunity to be able to access timely, quality and safe health care, and that includes for the purpose of being able to access appropriate and safe dental care and treatment. For people with specific neurological or other conditions that require adjustments to be made in the way in which treatment, diagnosis or care is provided, we work really hard to be able to allocate funding, supports and workforce to provide that care. This includes, as part of this year’s budget, an additional 4000 surgeries and an additional 45,000 specialist appointments.

With that case that you have raised, Ms Crozier, I would encourage you to raise that issue directly with my office. I am very happy to have that conversation with you, but I also want to underscore the importance of consent and privacy in the way in which that information is sought – and indeed exchanged – and matters are discussed further. Patient privacy and consent, Ms Crozier, as you would well be aware, is at the heart of the capacity that we have to discuss these matters in this place. I know that in many cases people’s experiences will differ significantly. So if the individual has not already contacted my office, I would encourage that to happen or them to email me directly. We can then look into that matter, of course, where consent is provided.

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:42): Just to help you along, Minister, just like yesterday, when Ava’s parents wanted me to raise this with you in the Parliament to highlight to Victorians the failures within the system – so do not try and put it back on me, the patients’ parents or the patients themselves – it is your government that is failing Victorians in every single sense of the word. Alex’s parents have said:

It is truly heartbreaking to be the parent of a profoundly disabled child and watch your child be left behind and be denied basic healthcare and basic human rights.

You just said you work really hard to allocate resources, but they have been told Monash Health has enough dentists but not enough theatres with dental equipment. So I ask: why won’t the government properly fund our health services with the necessary resources to address the needs of all Victorians?

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Health, Minister for Water) (12:43): Thank you, Ms Crozier. We invested record funding into providing health services with the capacity to administer care, including through operating theatre capacity being doubled, for example. Monash Health is one of the health services that continues to provide increasing volume in the support of operating and surgical processes and procedures.

Georgie Crozier interjected.

Harriet SHING: Again, Ms Crozier, to take you back to what I said in the answer to your substantive question, 4000 additional surgeries as part of this year’s budget –

Georgie Crozier interjected.

Harriet SHING: We are talking about a surgical process to provide that care and treatment, Ms Crozier. We have opened 11 hospitals; you sold off 12 and tried to privatise two more. We are going to continue to invest because that is what Victorians deserve.