Thursday, 15 August 2024

Health services

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:19): My question is to the Premier. The Premier has admitted that there will be back-office job losses in the health system. Is a ward support assistant, responsible for transporting medical equipment, X-rays and patient records, a back-office job which will be cut?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Minister for Transport Infrastructure, I am going to have to ask you to leave the chamber for half an hour. I will not tolerate members being called names across the chamber.

Minister for Transport Infrastructure withdrew from chamber.

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:20): Last week, along with the Minister for Health, we announced $1.5 billion in additional funding for our hospital system, which is the funding that our hospitals have told us that they need to continue to deliver that world-class health care that we know our Victorian community relies on and that will continue to support the delivery of frontline services.

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:21): Ward support assistants enable doctors and nurses to spend more time helping patients. Will the government intervene to ensure that so-called back-office jobs, like ward support assistants, are not cut by hospitals?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Member for Narre Warren North is warned.

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:21): I want to make this very clear to the Leader of the Opposition and the Assembly today. Labor governments will always back hospitals, always back nurses and always back frontline services.

John Pesutto: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, can we just for once get a straight answer from the Premier?

The SPEAKER: The Premier had just commenced her answer. I will give her an opportunity to respond to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: I will say that again. Labor governments will always back our hospitals, we will always back our nurses and we will always back the world-class care our hospitals provide. I will say this to the house: every time a Labor government has followed a Liberal one, we have had to repair the damage of the cuts that that government –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on standing order 58, the Premier is simply abusing standing order 58. At no time today has the Premier gone anywhere near the substance of any question asked. Every time a point of order is called, the Premier sits down midsentence.

The SPEAKER: What is your point of order?

James Newbury: The Premier is at no point relevant to the question. For the second time –

The SPEAKER: So your point of order is on relevance?

James Newbury: Yes, on relevance.

The SPEAKER: Thank you. Manager of Opposition Business, you just need to say that it is on relevance. The Premier has concluded her answer.