Friday, 28 August 2026

 Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (12:22): (1456) My question is to the Minister for Health. Laura, a former nurse who has since resigned from the Ballarat Base Hospital, wrote to the government last week, and I want to quote from her letter. She said:

Imagine lying in an ED corridor for days. Imagine having no privacy, no dignity and no sense of safety. Imagine feeling like you do not matter. Imagine knowing the nurses caring for you are exhausted, overwhelmed and terrified of making a mistake because they are stretched beyond human limits. This is what our patients endure. This is what nurses endure. This is what you have allowed to continue.

Minister, will you establish an investigation into the Ballarat Base Hospital to improve patient care?

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Special Minister of State) (12:23): I thank Mr McCracken for his question. I know that our nurses do an incredible job and sometimes it is very challenging work. I do want to acknowledge that particular nurse’s experience and also thank her for the care that she has been providing to the Ballarat community. I think it was something that Ms Crozier actually referenced when we were in the committee stage of the nurse- and midwife-to-patient ratio bill earlier this week. I do absolutely acknowledge the extraordinary work that our nurses do right across the health system – indeed all our health workforce.

Of course, like health systems around the country, we are seeing unprecedented demand in our emergency departments. It is certainly not unique to Victoria. It is something that has been experienced in other jurisdictions as well. It is why we are continuing to work with our health services through our timely emergency care program to get patients out of our emergency departments and into the right care sooner. It is why our government has been proud to increase our workforce by more than 40,000 people over the past decade, and our nurse retention is now one of the strongest in the nation.

Of course there is always more work to be done. We are investing in alternative care pathways, including the virtual emergency department, Nurse-on-Call and other important programs.

Joe McCracken: On a point of order, President, my question was very specific to the Ballarat Base Hospital and the conditions there. I ask you to draw the minister back to the question, please.

The PRESIDENT: The minister will come to the question.

Ingrid STITT: I was being relevant to the issues that you were raising on behalf of that particular nurse, and I was actually about to touch on the issues at Ballarat Base Hospital. These are questions that have also come up in the last couple of sitting weeks. It is important to note that we are significantly investing in improving our services and the infrastructure at Ballarat with a $655 million redevelopment of the Ballarat Base Hospital. That is one of the biggest regional health infrastructure investments that we have ever made in Victoria. Importantly for the workforce in Ballarat, it includes a new emergency department with the capacity for an additional 100 inpatients and short-stay beds.

Joe McCracken: On a point of order, President, I have been listening very patiently to the minister. The question was specifically: will you investigate the conditions at Ballarat Base Hospital? The minister has not gone near that.

The PRESIDENT: I think the minister has been relevant to the question.

Ingrid STITT: Before Mr McCracken’s point of order I was going on to say that we will continue to work closely with Grampians Health and health services across the state to make sure that our patients across the state actually receive safe, timely care and that our health workforce is supported to deliver it. We have a performance management system of our health services that is regularly undertaken by the department, and that is the appropriate way to handle these matters.

 Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (12:26): I want to quote again from Laura’s letter:

Right now we feel abandoned. We feel unheard. We feel like we do not matter to the people who make decisions about our working conditions and patient safety. And because we cannot perform the way we know we can, the Ballarat community is losing faith in us. That loss of trust is devastating. We did not fail them. The system all failed us.

Minister, Laura is one of dozens of nurses who are telling you there is an issue, and you have not categorically said that you will investigate it. In fact you have refused to even respond to that part of the question. Why won’t you release the latest People Matter survey that talks about these very important issues?

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Special Minister of State) (12:27): I thank the member for his supplementary question. I have acknowledged the issues that have been raised by Laura and also acknowledged that our nurses right across the health system do an incredible job, and sometimes under very challenging circumstances. We have a very robust system in place for performance management across the health system. That is the appropriate way in which any issues ought to be surfaced and dealt with. But what I have gone to in the answer to the substantive question are all of the additional supports that the government is providing through investment and programs that are all about alleviating the pressure on emergency departments.

Georgie Crozier: On a point of order, President, there are 7 seconds left. Mr McCracken’s question was very specific: why won’t the minister release the latest People Matter survey?

The PRESIDENT: I believe the minister was being relevant to the question.

Ingrid STITT: The People Matter survey is not a matter for me to release. It is a broader piece of work across the public sector.