Tuesday, 11 August 2026

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Special Minister of State) (13:32): Everyone deserves to feel safe at work. This is as true if you are in a complex, sensitive setting like a hospital as it is for any other workplace, and this government will always back our dedicated health workers and work with them on evidence-based solutions. I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the incredible health workers across the state, who dedicate their working lives to supporting their communities.

The Victorian government has been proud to invest more than $47 million in initiatives and training to prevent and respond to occupational violence and aggression since 2015. This work has included de-escalation training and the safe wards model, which is designed to enhance safety by creating a therapeutic environment in health settings. The Department of Health and Safer Care Victoria also provide guidance and resources to support health services, and we have also acted to ensure we can comprehensively close the loops when it comes to laws to ensure emergency workers are adequately protected while at work, including our paramedics.

We know, however, that there is more that we need to do, and central to that work is consulting with and listening to our health services and our workforce – the ones that are on the front line. I was proud earlier this year with Ms Shing to host a round table with experts from right across our health services, our worker representatives and our frontline workers. This is important. It is complex work and it is continuing, and I look forward to continuing to drive progress in partnership with our health system. Our diverse health system needs and deserves tailored solutions, and we are taking that work seriously, which cannot be said about those opposite, who just want to recycle failed previous policies.