Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in this place to address some very concerning reports today on the front page of Melbourne's daily newspaper, The Age. The paper featured a story entitled 'Doctors call for $2 billion fix as the Alfred crumbles'. This article highlights that Melbourne's leading trauma hospital is in desperate need of repairs. The story reports leaking roofs, cracked walls and wards that flood when it rains. The Alfred hospital is the closest public hospital to my electorate—it's right on the corner of the boundary of Higgins—and three generations of my family have worked as doctors and nurses at the Alfred.

Just last week I had the great honour of awarding Professor John Wilson, who spoke out in The Age article, the President's Award at the Australian AMA awards night. He's highly respected in the medical world. But it's not just Professor Wilson who is; all the doctors and nurses who work at the Alfred are top-notch, world-class health professionals and they deserve to have access to world-class facilities. The Alfred is one of Melbourne's leading tertiary hospitals and provides health care for most of Melbourne's southern and eastern communities.

The Andrews Labor government has neglected investment in the Alfred for far too long. How can nurses and doctors give the best care when they don't have the facilities they need to do the job? By not properly investing in the facilities at the Alfred, the Victorian Labor government is potentially putting the health and lives of the Alfred patients at risk. I stand with Professor John Wilson and call on the Victorian Labor government to provide the $2 billion that the Alfred desperately needs to fix its buildings.