Wednesday, 13 May 2026

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (19:01): (2526) My matter is for the attention of the Minister for Health. I have just received a text message this evening from somebody whose sister is in the West Gippsland Hospital. She is a mother of four with acute appendicitis who needs surgery, but because there are no beds she is sitting in a chair. She has been sitting in a chair for hours. She has had a CT scan and a number of rounds of IV antibiotics but has been told to go home and come back in the morning for surgery. This is an acute case. This woman needs surgery, but there are no beds. What I am concerned about is the state of our health system. I want to talk about not only the acute care that is required but also those that are waiting for surgery, and that brings me to the matter that I really want to raise this evening, because this is how badly our system is operating under the Allan government, who seem to be completely aloof about the whole reality of what is going on.

What I want to understand is what is happening to those tens of thousands of Victorians who are waiting for surgery. We have not got the latest data from the Victorian Agency for Health Information. It was due out days ago, and it is overdue yet again. This government is lacking in transparency, lacking in accountability and lacking in responsibility, and Victorians have had enough, as have I. Every quarter that this data is due we have to wait. The government will put it out, no doubt, when it suits them – when other distractions are occurring – but this data is overdue. It is a bit like the health questionnaire for the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee. Every other department has provided the questionnaire for PAEC – not the Department of Health. We have no information, and PAEC hearings commence on Friday. This is a government that is utterly appalling in its ability to provide transparency and information that the public needs.

The action I am seeking from the minister is to explain why the Department of Health is so incompetent – or are they being directed to delay this data release for political purposes that are not in the interests of the public? I would like the minister to provide to the house an explanation as to why this information has not been provided.