Victoria State election: Billion-dollar surgery plan headlines embattled Labor’s poll pitch
Rival launches have been held less than two weeks before the Victorian state election as the major parties zero in on crime and health service issues.
An embattled state government has made a billion-dollar pledge to halve public hospital surgery waiting lists as its election rivals tout a bootcamp for youth criminals.
In a small room filled with red shirt-wearing supporters, Premier Ben Carroll used Labor’s campaign launch in Moonee Ponds on Sunday to unveil the $1.2 billion announcement to deliver 100,000 extra planned surgeries.
The coalition previously unveiled its own plan for boosting elective surgery, although its scheme involved outsourcing work to private hospitals.
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“Thirty thousand of those additional surgeries will be in regional hospitals,” he said.
In a near-simultaneous event across the city, a river of royal blue T-shirts flowed into Collingwood Football Club’s headquarters for the Liberals’ campaign launch.
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson told supporters her party offered a “fresh start for Victoria”, promising lower costs, taxes, reduced crime and a “government that works”.
“The whole country wants to know if the Liberal Party can do this,” she said.
“And let me tell you something. We can do this. We must do this.”
The coalition on Sunday released a policy for youth offender bootcamps, during which those convicted of crimes would be forced to do farm work, laundry, cooking and attend daily education programs.
Mr Carroll a week earlier announced a forced rehabilitation program for young offenders, which quickly attracted criticism from youth justice advocates.
Under the coalition pledge, young offenders would be sent to a new, in-house program at the former Dhurringile Prison, in central Victoria, in a scheme inspired by Queensland’s Circuit Breaker program.
Courts will be given the power to send offenders aged 14 to 17 to the bootcamp as an alternative to a community corrections order or other custodial sentence.
Offenders would be ordered to take part in the daily program, where daily tasks include physical activity, farm work, cleaning, maintenance and cooking.
“Our bootcamps will give young offenders structure, discipline and practical skills while making it clear that their actions have consequences,” coalition youth justice spokeswoman Renee Heath said.
“We will give young Victorians the tools to turn their lives around, but we will never put the safety of the community second.”
Labor’s previous “tough love” announcement involved $204 million being set aside to roll out mandatory therapeutic orders for young offenders.
Young offenders sentenced under the order would be removed from the community for up to a year and held in a secure residential youth justice facility, where they would undergo rehabilitation programs.
Advocates, however, criticised the plan, arguing it prioritised detaining children and young people over investing in the support services needed to keep them connected to their communities, families and culture.
Recent polls point to a likely victory for the opposition at the November 28 election.
The Australian Financial Review/RedBridge/Accent Research’s latest poll pegged the coalition’s primary vote at 31 per cent, ahead of a declining Labor on 23 per cent.
One Nation was steady at 22 per cent and the Greens at 15 per cent in the survey.
