By Sumeyya Ilanbey
The state government and opposition have been accused of showing “little interest” in a campaign calling for a public hospital in Melton.
More than 11,000 people signed postcards calling the Labor and Liberal parties to commit to the hospital, with the signatures delivered to Parliament House on Wednesday afternoon.
The delegation that headed to Spring Street, made up of Melton council officers, local GPs and the mayor, were intending to hand over the petitions to Health Minister Jill Hennessy.
But the minister, or any Labor and Liberal state MPs, were a no-show.
Melton’s Liberal candidate Ryan Farrow and Labor candidate Justin Mammarella received the signatures on behalf of the government and opposition.
Melton GP Marcus Watson said the MPs were “disenfranchised” with the Melton voters.
“I think it’s amazing that we such a strong community feeling and have so little interest from the powers that can actually deliver this,” Dr Watson said. “They don’t understand the urgency of the need in the west.
“To not even come and talk and discuss — it surprises me and it’s quite disappointing, but we’ll keep trying.”
Melton council chief executive Kel Tori said the community had backed the campaign and sent a loud and clear message to state politicians a public hospital in Melton was desperately needed.
“This [campaign] is all about the constancy and the scale of the community representation.”
Mr Farrow said the Opposition would be making a commitment about the public hospital soon, but would not reveal when, or the details of the commitment.
Mr Mammarella said he was picked to represent the state government because of his familiarity with the campaign.
But Dr Watson is frustrated with the lack of action and commitment from both sides of Parliament.
“We’ve got a Labor candidate who’s saying things like [he supports it] however, they’re in government — all they have to do is commit to build a hospital,” Dr Watson said.
“And we haven’t had the backing from the Liberals either — sure it’s OK for a Liberal candidate to say he backs it but we need the backing from the city to say if they got into the government they would build it.
“It’s an election that’s going to be fought on local issues, and until they realise this is the absolute local, focal issue, then they’re going to miss out on votes in Melton.”
In a statement, a spokesman for Ms Hennessy said the state government was investing “record funding” in hospitals and health services.
“We will continue to work with the local communities on the health projects that matter to them, because we know that building a world-class health system is a never ending job,” the spokesman said.
“You can’t trust the Liberals when it comes to health. They cut a billion dollars from health when they were last in power, and they’ll cut, close and privatise again if they get the chance.”
