Shadow health minister blasts Premier over ‘dire situation’
Victoria’s shadow health minister Georgie Crozier has lashed out at Daniel Andrews, accusing him of pushing Victoria’s hospital system to the brink.
Data from Australia’s Productivity Watchdog shows Victoria spends less money per person running its public hospitals than any other state in the country, and was lagging behind even before the pandemic hit.
Victoria — with 851 people in hospital with COVID-19 and 106 in intensive care — has declared a code brown, but in NSW — where 2749 COVID-19 patients are in hospital and 186 people are in intensive care — no code has been called.
Daniel Andrews has been Victoria’s Premier or Health Minister for 11 of the past 15 years, and Ms Crozier says the blame for the hospital crisis lies with him.
“It’s years of underinvestment,” she told Neil Mitchell.
“He has to take responsibility for the last two years of the unpreparedness and lack of investment, and that’s why we have got such a dire situation across our health services.”
In a public hearing into Victoria’s COVID-19 response yesterday, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton revealed he has not been asked to provide on key health matters including the introduction of booster shot mandates, the decision to increase tennis crowd capacity and the pause on IVF procedures.
“He said he hadn’t been been asked to provide that advice. I find that stunning,” she told Neil Mitchell.
“It does make you wonder who’s been making these decisions all along. Have they been political decisions rather than based on health advice?”
Press PLAY below to hear the key questions Ms Crozier says must be answered immediately
Image (Crozier): Michael Dodge/Getty Images