Premier Daniel Andrews promised a $295 million upgrade to Dandenong Hospital to deal with population growth in Melbourne’s south-east, while Opposition Leader Matthew Guy was on the other side of Melbourne announcing more roads funding.
The hospital upgrade will help treat 12,000 more patients per year and create 750 jobs, but construction won’t begin until 2026, the year Victorians next go to the polls after the November 26 election.
“We know that our south-eastern suburbs are booming, and the health system needs to grow to keep pace with that and indeed to have additional capacity beyond it,” Andrews said on Saturday.
“The best way to thank our staff for the quite amazing job that they’ve done over these last few years, and the work they do every year, is to give them the very best facilities.”
Dandenong Hospital is in the safe Labor seat of Dandenong, held by Minister for Mental Health Gabrielle Williams. But it also services voters in important seats where the Andrews government is concerned about losing support, including Narre Warren North, Bass, Cranbourne and Pakenham.
Healthcare has become a key battleground in this state election, with the independent Parliamentary Budget Office election tracker showing the major parties are committing more cash to health services than other areas.
Dandenong Hospital in Melbourne’s south-east.Credit:Greg Briggs
Labor has pledged about $4 billion, while the Coalition – which says it is diverting money from the Suburban Rail Loop to healthcare – has committed almost $6.5 billion.
As part of Victoria’s Agenda election series, voters told The Age they want the major parties to explain how they would make sure people have access to the healthcare they need.
Data released on Friday showed a winter spike in COVID-19 and flu cases caused Victorian hospitals to buckle.
Between July to September, about 3650 patients waited more than 24 hours in emergency departments for a hospital bed, a figure 13 times higher than the 270 patients who had to wait during the same quarter last year.
An artist’s depiction of the Victorian Heart Hospital, at Monash University’s Clayton campus.Credit:Conrad Gargett in Joint Venture with John Wardle Architects
The government also announced major construction was complete on the $577 million Victoria Heart Hospital at Monash University, Australia’s first specialist cardiac hospital.
It has 206 beds and will provide up to 2150 cardiac surgeries annually. The hospital will also cater for 28,300 emergency presentations and 108,000 consultations and outpatient appointments every year.
“It’s the first of its kind in Australia, and it will undoubtedly be a place that attracts the best and brightest from all around the world to learn, research, and develop new technologies and new procedures right here,” Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said.
Meanwhile, the Coalition announced a $1.5 billion investment to upgrade western suburbs roads, including a $700 million upgrade to the Western Highway; $117 million to duplicate the Melton Highway between the key battleground seat of Melton and Hillside; and $146 million to duplicate Point Cook Road in the suburbs of Point Cook and Seabrook.
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has pledged $1.5 billion to road projects in Melbourne’s west.Credit:Arsineh Houspian
The far-west electorate of Melton is held by Labor on a 4.5 per cent margin, but the Coalition holds hope of snatching it at this election as infrastructure has not kept pace with growth and frustration among voters is building.
“The time for Melbourne’s west is now,” Guy said on Saturday.
“Daniel Andrews and Labor have treated the residents of Melbourne’s west as second-class citizens.”
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