Crugnale accuses Liberals of hypocrisy over hospital pledge

STATE Bass MP Jordan Crugnale has hit back at the Coalition’s $350 million Wonthaggi Hospital commitment accusing the Liberals of a record of closing and privatising the services they now promise to build.

Ms Crugnale said the Opposition’s announcement was an insult to the Bass Coast community.

“The Liberals talking about health is an insult to our community and Victoria, they don’t care, never did,” Ms Crugnale said.

“Instead, they will do what they do best, close, privatise and cut vital services in Bass and right across the State.”

Ms Crugnale said Labor had returned two hospitals to public hands after they were privatised under the Kennett government, pointing to Latrobe Regional Hospital and Mildura Base Hospital.

Latrobe Regional Hospital opened under private management in 1998 and reverted to state control in October 2000 after its operator walked away from the contract, while Mildura Base returned to public hands in September 2020 at the end of a 20-year agreement.

Ms Crugnale said Labor had built 12 new public hospitals, matching the number closed under the Liberals, and recruited 17,000 nurses and midwives across Victoria.

On the Wonthaggi project itself, Ms Crugnale said detailed planning was progressing for the stage two and three new build, with master planning, ground testing and feasibility studies already completed.

She said that work was essential given what lies beneath the site.

“Wonthaggi has 5000km of underground tunnels including in and around the Wonthaggi hospital site, so this work is vital,” she said.

Ms Crugnale said the April announcement of stage 2A funding would deliver a new pharmacy, pathology clinic, medical imaging suite and mortuary, and that shell space in the stage one building had already been set aside for maternity and neonatal care.

She said Wonthaggi was working with its Bayside Health network on maternity services across the network, including Peninsula Health, which recently opened a $1 billion hospital in Frankston.

“The aim is for an expansion of maternity and neonatal care to a higher level so more babies can be delivered close to home, and I am pleased this important work has started and we are on the way,” Ms Crugnale said.

“This has to be coordinated to ensure safety, capability and a continuum of care.”

Ms Crugnale said Wonthaggi Hospital was being reclassified from a level four to a level two, and its emergency department, which previously had no classification, would also become level two.

She said the area had received more than $13.5 million across 31 health grant funded projects since 2016, including redevelopments at Armitage House and Griffith Point Lodge.

Ms Crugnale also pointed to the $115 million stage one redevelopment, the opening of the Phillip Island Community Hospital and worker accommodation of 20 self-contained rooms for healthcare staff, due for completion within months.

The Coalition announced on Tuesday it would spend $350 million to complete stages two and three of the Wonthaggi redevelopment within its first term if elected in November, delivering up to 64 beds across two wards, a maternity complex and an outpatient clinic.

Shadow Minister for Health Georgie Crozier was asked at that announcement whether a Coalition government would also commit to the stalled West Gippsland Hospital at Drouin, and did not commit to it at the time, saying only that the Opposition would have more to say about supporting regional Victorians.

That answer came a day later, with the Coalition pledging $850 million for a new West Gippsland Hospital at Drouin East, delivering 230 beds and treatment spaces, an emergency department with 33 treatment spaces, 60 residential care beds and accommodation for healthcare workers.

Labor promised a new hospital at Drouin before the 2022 election with a completion date of 2028. Construction has not begun and planning funding was stripped from this year’s state budget.

State Narracan MP Wayne Farnham said the Coalition had backed the project at the 2018, 2022 and 2026 elections.

Ms Crugnale is not recontesting Bass in November.