Victorian Opposition leader Matthew Guy says the health system across the state, including new facilities in Shepparton, should take priority over the suburban rail loop proposed for south-east Melbourne.
Mr Guy was in Shepparton for the formal announcement of $100 million in funding for Shepparton’s health system, with $75 million going towards a “ready to go” new cancer centre and $25 million for the clinical health school proposed for the city.
The funding would replace the $19.5 million that was promised by the former Federal Coalition Government before it lost the May election.
Mr Guy didn’t have a time frame on when either the clincal health school or the cancer centre would be built.
He said announcements on short-term acquisition of more health staff would be made before the November state election.
Mr Guy said "every cent“ of the money saved from his proposed shelving of the underground rail tunnel would be pushed into the health sector, including new hospitals in Wodonga, Mildura and Gippsland.
"Part of that re-prioritisation of money from the train line in the southern suburbs of Melbourne that benefits very few is to put it all back into the health service to benefit all of us,“ he said.
“What I want is for Victorians when they call an ambulance for it to turn up, when they get to hospital for there to be a bed, and for those hospitals to have the best facilities they can.
“The Goulburn Valley needs better health facilities, and $100 million will go a long way to providing cancer service for the local community and go a long way to training physicians and nurses who will live and work here.”
The clinical health school would be run by La Trobe University and Goulburn Valley Health.
La Trobe University deputy vice-chancellor Richard Speed said the funding would be a massive boost for the clinical health school.
“This will enable our students to undertake their training at the hospital in the later part of their degrees,” he said.
“It will enable us to increase the number of nurses and midwives coming through to graduation by about 40 per cent for postgraduate nurses, and allied health professionals by about 30 per cent.”
Mr Speed said up to 85 per cent of graduates stayed in the communities in which they trained.
“This investment will increase not only the number of nurses in the community but the skill levels of those nurses,” he said.
“Postgraduate nurses have specialist skills that are very, very rare in regional Victoria.”
State Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell urged the Federal Government to match the commitment made by the Coalition.
She said there had been no word from the new Albanese Government as to whether it would commit to funding the facility.