Tuesday, 21 February 2023

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (17:33): (39) My adjournment matter this evening is to the Minister for Health, and it is in relation to a request for the upcoming budget. I am hoping that she will be able to speak to the Treasurer about an issue that has been raised with me. I was hoping to visit Anam Cara House in Geelong prior to the election but unfortunately could not get to visit. But I did have the pleasure of going down there last week and having a wonderful site visit, and I want to thank Adrian Hart and his team, who are doing a tremendous job with this very good initiative that helps with providing services, including palliative care and respite care, for so many within the Geelong region. Anam Cara has a unique model of care. As I said, it provides palliative support services for those diagnosed with a life-limiting illness as well as their families. It is in partnership with Deakin University, and it undertakes research. It does a whole range of things, and it is in the process of the finalisation of being built. As I said, I went to visit it last week, and there were some parts of the facility that had not been completed. When I was going through it there were a number of beds, so there are four palliative beds that are required to be opened, with a total of 12 beds that the money that I am requesting would go towards assisting. It would also support the other beds that are running and the operational day-care services that the facility has.

It makes no sense that this facility that is requesting or needing this money be short-changed, because of the pressure it is taking off the existing facilities in the Geelong region, and I really want to make the point that the work I saw by those carers in there last week was tremendous. There were a couple of day patients in there that were getting respite, they were having programs, and the whole team that was coming around them was just truly tremendous. The funding that they require is $1.99 million in this upcoming budget, and I would urge the health minister to speak to the Treasurer and other colleagues to ensure that this community palliative care provider is provided with that funding to get those beds finished and to get the operation up and running to its best capacity.