Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the government’s increased investment in health and hospitals, particularly in the Monash area of my electorate. Over our first term in government we have proven we are serious about health reform. We have invested $7.3 billion over five years to create the National Health and Hospitals Network. This is a massive funding increase to our health system which will help to make up for lost ground suffered under underinvestment during the Howard and Abbott years. This government’s health reform will lead to genuine improvements and better prepare the system to cope with the increased demands of our ageing population.

My electorate is already benefiting from increased government investment in the health system. Last week I visited Monash Medical Centre in Clayton at the southern end of my electorate. Monash Medical Centre would have to be one of the largest hospitals in Australia. I am delighted the government has funded $3.1 million for a 23-hour care unit at the centre, as part of the Elective Surgery Waiting List Reduction Plan. The role of the care unit will be to receive and clinically manage selected elective and emergency patients. This is an innovative idea that says that a patient cannot remain in the unit for longer than 23 hours. Importantly, this will help to reduce the elective surgery waiting list at Monash Medical Centre and will assist the government to reach its target of delivering elective surgery on time for 95 per cent of Australians—a key objective of the national health and hospitals reforms. I was actually at the hospital to open the endoscopy unit, which has had to be moved to accommodate the 23-hour unit, and I am looking forward to visiting the centre again in the coming months to officially commission the new care unit.

From the Health and Hospitals Fund, the government has also committed $71 million towards a $141 million project for the construction of the Monash Health Research Precinct Translational Facility. This is easily one of the biggest investments a federal government has made in my electorate over my 12 years as the member for Chisholm. This research facility will be home to four stakeholders—Southern Health, the Southern Clinical School at Monash University, Prince Henry’s Institute and the Monash Institute of Medical Research. The facility will accommodate laboratories and offices for staff engaged in translational research, covering vital themes which address major priority areas—chronic debilitating disease, bone and joint disease, asthma, diabetes, heart attack and stroke.

Improved health outcomes are reliant on increased efficiency and better patient care within the health system. Improving our research methods and capabilities is vital to achieving these goals. There is no better area for this research to be conducted than within the Monash medical and university precinct. This facility will see staff co-located by area of disease burden, as opposed to institutional affiliation, which will maximise the possibilities for translational research.

I am delighted the government is making these investments in my electorate and is supporting the wonderful work of Monash Medical Centre and other stakeholders within the Monash health system. Monash Medical Centre, being such a large hospital, does not just accommodate people from my electorate; it actually accommodates people from all over Victoria and even sees some people from Tasmania. Work done within the centre is vital across Australia. These investments are reflective of the government’s unprecedented commitment to improving our health system and supporting better health and hospitals for all Australians, as I say, not just in my electorate but Australia wide.