Wednesday, 26 August 2026

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (19:37): (2744) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Health, and the action I seek is that the minister publicly apologise for this government’s continual failure at the Ballarat Base Hospital. Days ago the Premier toured the Ballarat Base Hospital on his redemption tour. He swapped his suit and cufflinks for a high-vis vest and a hard hat. For a full minute I thought it was Daniel Andrews returning to the political scene. Poor old Mr Carroll was joined by his beleaguered members for Wendouree and Ripon, both of whom are looking for their next gig, and the occasion was an announcement that the project is at long last nearing an end. But there is a catch. The final stage will only be finalised next year – late next year. So we have waited eight years, spent hundreds of millions of dollars – all down the gurgler – and it will only be finished months after the election. The project was budgeted at nearly $462 million in 2018, then revised to $655 million in 2024. The total bill has remained unchanged, so we are told. But who could believe that farcical figure when nearly every other project has blown out? It could be closer to $900 million for all I know. Remember the CFMEU flags that flew atop the hospital’s three cranes some weeks ago? Before the Premier’s visit those flags magically disappeared, but the union is still around, milking the system with ghost shifts and underworld activities, no doubt.

As for the surgeons, doctors and nurses, did they get an opportunity to ask the Premier questions? Did he have an explanation for the atrocious ED wait times, which are nearly double the statewide average, with patients waiting more than 40 hours for a bed, or perhaps the ambulance ramping reaching crisis levels with crews waiting 4½ hours just yesterday and even up to 12 hours in some cases? The bikies, gangsters and pimps prosper while the sick, vulnerable and elderly are abandoned on stretchers and in corridors. Our doctors, nurses and paramedics are working shift after shift, but they are burning out and walking away. Yes, we have a new Premier, but this is the same old government with no plan to fix the workforce shortages in the health sector and no credible plan to stop union corruption. Frankly, there are not enough gimmicky freebies and photo opportunities to save this lot. This November, vote Ben Carroll and Labor out.