Gippsland East Nationals’ MP, Tim Bull, has called on the State Government to provide important financial support to rural Bush Nursing Centres (BNCs), which face an uncertain future.
Speaking in Parliament, he said the BNCs in Cann Valley, Gelantipy district, Dargo, Swifts Creek, Ensay and Buchan all play a critical role in their local communities, but most faced significant financial challenges.
“On top of their budgets being reduced by 10 per cent, I am being told by some local BNC representatives, that even more alarming is the government expects them to cover the nursing staff wage increases recently agreed to by government of 28.4 per cent between now and 2027. They simply cannot do this,” Mr Bull said.
“There is no question the nurses deserve a pay rise, but it cannot be implemented without financial support provided to the BNCs to meet these increased costs.
“Nurses do an amazing job, and our bush nurses have an extensively dynamic skill set to adapt to the range of care needed in rural settings.
“However, it is completely unfair that our remote care centres have not only had a funding cut, but the Minister remains silent on government support for these wage increases.
“The Allan Labor Government is playing a dangerous game with rural and regional critical health services, and we want to see no change in employment, outreach capacity or service provision.
“The great fear is that without the capacity to pay, nurse hours will be reduced and that is not an outcome that is acceptable.
“It is appalling that I need to stand in Parliament and request that the Allan Labor Government provide some clarity on this.
“The reality is these situations, along with our health system cuts more generally, the state of our county roads and a litany of other issues, is all a result of the catastrophic mismanagement of the state’s finances.
“Even Labor’s own budget papers say we are headed for a debt of $186 billion by 2027 and interest repayments will hit $26 million per day. They can’t manage money and we pay the price,” he said.
