Tuesday, 11 August 2026

 Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (14:49): Today Victorian public hospital allied health workers are taking industrial action because for far too long they have been taken for granted. Our health system simply does not work without allied health professionals. They are the ones who help people to function across all aspects of their lives, and they are the technicians and scientists who help to keep our health services humming. Yet compared with other health workers, allied health professionals do not get the same recognition and support. They have endured a decline in real wages of around 10 per cent over the past four years, while not having access to the same career progression opportunities, leadership opportunities or education support as other craft groups who often perform similar or even identical roles. Meanwhile their workload and the complexity of that work have only been rising. This is a situation that is only leading to burnout. There are challenges with retaining the existing workforce, let alone with attracting new ones into it. It is unsustainable, and without urgent intervention our whole health system will fail. The thing is that investing in allied health simply makes sense; it is a good policy decision. If you want to stop ambulance ramping or clear emergency departments, invest in allied health. These are the people who keep people healthy and in the community, get someone home from an emergency department and avoid an admission or get people out of the hospital and home sooner. I call on Labor to show allied health professionals the respect they deserve and give them the pay and conditions they are calling for.