Wednesday, 15 May 2024
Adjournment
Responses
Responses
Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Health Infrastructure, Minister for Ambulance Services) (17:32): I welcome the opportunity to respond to the questions that were raised by the member for Eildon and the member for Euroa. Speaker, I will seek your guidance if I can, because they are substantially similar questions, on whether I could attempt to answer them together.
The SPEAKER: I believe that would be appropriate for the responses. They were very similar.
Mary-Anne THOMAS: Thank you very much. Both members asked about hospital funding and in particular hospital funding in rural and regional Victoria.
Mary-Anne THOMAS: Hang on. I have got 30 minutes, right, so just give me a break. One of the first questions was about hospital funding. I am really, really pleased that this year’s budget has delivered $8.8 billion in additional funding to our hospital services, and what is really important is that $1.5 billion of that is for this operating year, for this financial year. My department is working now with each of our health services as we come to financial close to support those health services in everything that they have done through this very challenging time to continue to meet the healthcare needs of Victorians wherever they live. I must say in making this commitment, this significant boost, one of the biggest ever, that this is something that has been welcomed by our health services because it directly responds to what they have asked of us. It is about meeting some of the needs that go with the increased costs that we have seen in our healthcare system.
While I am talking about costs, let me point to some of the challenges that our healthcare system is facing right across the state.
Members interjecting.
Mary-Anne THOMAS: Speaker, again, I have been asked some serious questions. I am trying to give a serious answer, and I request the respect of the –
The SPEAKER: Order! I ask members to cease interjecting.
Mary-Anne THOMAS: I was talking about increased cost expenditure in our healthcare system, and I am certainly well aware of this because I have been travelling right around our state visiting hospitals in the member for Lowan’s electorate, in the member for Euroa’s electorate, in the member for Eildon’s electorate, and I have had a great opportunity to hear firsthand some of the concerns that have been expressed by those health services and in particular healthcare workers.
So let me tell you about some of the challenges that are now being faced, not just by our health system I might say, but indeed by health systems right around the world. One of those is the changes in our care needs and our population. Our population is growing and we are getting older. This means that we are living with more chronic conditions and we are living with more comorbidities. What this in turn means is that we are seeing greater investment in or greater focus on –
Mary-Anne THOMAS: Do you want a serious answer or not? I am talking about the challenges that are being experienced by hospitals in rural and regional Victoria, and I will have it noted that I have had constant interjections from the member for Lowan while I have been trying to address this very serious issue.
It is about changes that we have seen in our population and the healthcare needs of our community, and changes in the way in which care is being delivered. The second challenge that we have faced has been workforce challenges, and again these are most acutely felt in rural and regional Victoria. I know this because I represent a regional electorate myself. I know this because I have friends and family that live in very rural parts of the state, and I know the challenges that are being faced. I have been and met with CEOs at hospitals like Portland, Orbost and Bairnsdale, and I have been at Robinvale and Mildura, and I have met and heard firsthand about these concerns.
The third point that I want to address is the rise in costs that we have seen. Because of this workforce shortage, labour costs have been rising. But you know what else has been rising? Our health services are competing against one another for these scarce resources, and they are driving costs up. The consequence of this is the people that miss out are the people in rural and regional Victoria. I am passionate about improving the care and the health outcomes of people in rural and regional Victoria. It is why I have asked an expert advisory committee to inquire as to whether or not the way in which our health system is currently organised is fit for purpose, now and into the future. This committee has been out and has met with CEOs, with health board chairs and health boards more generally. They have now provided some advice to my department, and in turn I await that advice from my department.
But let me be clear: under our government there will be no hospital closures. That is what those on the other side of the chamber do. If you look at their record, the Liberal –
Emma Kealy: On a point of order, Speaker, the two adjournment matters this evening were both around the action to seek that the minister abandon plans to amalgamate health services in their respective electorates. To this point in time, and we are now 6½ minutes into the response, we have not heard from the minister how she will action that item. There has been a rambling approach, and I realise the minister has got a wideranging ability to respond to these adjournment matters. However, she has not responded to the specific matter of asking her to abandon plans for health mergers.
The SPEAKER: In an adjournment debate, the minister can answer the query raised on the adjournment in any way the minister sees fit.
Mary-Anne THOMAS: Given the challenges that our health system has faced and given the impact that the one-in-100-year pandemic has had on our health system and on the health and wellbeing of our community, then it would be negligent not to inquire as to whether the way our system is organised is fit for now and into the future. So that work will continue. Again, I will make it clear: this government will not close hospitals. It is not what we do. Those on the other side, the Liberal Party, when they were in government closed 10 regional hospitals.
Emma Kealy: On a point of order, Speaker, the adjournment is not a time to attack the opposition. I would also ask, on a point of order – I can do a separate point of order, if you like, Speaker.
The SPEAKER: Is this a separate point of order?
Emma Kealy: Yes. I assume you are not going to rule in my favour, but I have got a second point of order.
The SPEAKER: Order! I would ask the member for Lowan not to reflect on the Chair. I will rule on that point of order based on previous rulings from the Chair. The minister has a great breadth in responding to matters raised during the adjournment debate, far more so than a minister would have during question time. The minister is answering the question as the minister sees fit.
Mary-Anne THOMAS: As I said, it was the Kennett government that closed 10 hospitals in rural and regional Victoria. It was a Liberal government that sold off the Latrobe Regional Hospital. It was a Liberal government that sold off the Mildura hospital. It was a Labor government that brought the Latrobe hospital back into public hands. It was a Labor government that brought the Mildura hospital back into public hands. It was a Labor government that saved the Euroa bush nursing hospital, and we brought that into the public health system. We purchased two private hospitals to bring them into the public system, and we were criticised by those on the other side when we did that.
Again, the long-term challenges of our health system are things that I take very, very seriously. I am absolutely committed to the delivery of more and better care for the people of rural and regional Victoria as close to home as possible and as soon as possible. Let me tell you this: when I have been out visiting hospitals – I am not going to name them here, but there are a number of small rural hospitals – I have been to a hospital that had one patient and I have been to a hospital that had three patients. And let me tell you this: what would happen if those on the other side were in power is that they would close them. But do you know what I want to see? I want to see patients back close to home. I want to see the hospitals and those nurses, with the great care that they can deliver, treating more people closer to home. That will be what motivates and drives me in any of the decisions that I make. Thank you so much, Speaker, for that time.
The member for Caulfield raised a matter for the attention of the Premier, and the action that he seeks is that the Premier intervene in universities in relation to protests taking place on campuses. The member for Northcote raised a matter for the Minister for Environment, and the action that the member seeks is that the minister joins her to see the container deposit scheme reverse vending machine in action. The member for Lowan raised a matter for the attention of the Premier in relation to priority projects in bushfire-impacted communities in her electorate. The member for Glen Waverley raised a matter for the attention of the Minister for Housing, and the action that he sought is that the minister joins him to visit Holmesglen youth foyer, which I am sure is something she would very much look forward to doing, particularly given the funding that it has received in the Allan Labor government’s 2024–25 budget.
The member for Ashwood raised a matter for the attention of the Minister for Education, and the action that he sought is that the minister joins him to visit Pinewood Primary School. The member for Brunswick raised a matter for the attention of the Minister for Climate Action, and the action that he sought is that the minister inquires and takes action in relation to making solar more available in apartments where the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing is in fact a landlord. He raised a number of complex issues, which I am sure the minister will look into. The member for Hastings raised a matter for the attention of the Minister for Planning, and the action that he seeks is that the minister join him to visit Willum Warrain, which in local Boon Wurrung language means ‘home by the sea’. I am sure the minister would be delighted to join you there, member for Hastings. The member for Thomastown raised a matter for the attention of the Minister for Environment, and again she seeks that the minister join her at the new dog park in Wollert, which I know will be something that is very welcomed by the people of Thomastown.
The SPEAKER: Thank you, Minister. Thank you, members. Thank you to the clerks and attendants. The house now stands adjourned.
House adjourned 5:46 pm.