Tuesday, 8 September 2026

 Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (12:48): (1468) My question is also for the Minister for Health. Minister, people do not stop being patients when they enter prison. The government’s own 2022 cultural review of the adult prison system recommends that Victoria urgently implement a public health model for health care across the entire adult prison system. The 2024 Victorian Ombudsman’s investigation into healthcare provision for Aboriginal people in Victorian prisons recommends the same thing. Yet health care in men’s prisons remains the responsibility of corrections. In July 2025 the Yoorrook Justice Commission recommended that the government:

Transfer oversight and responsibility of First Peoples’ prison healthcare from the Department of Justice and Community Safety to the Department of Health.

Now, in 2026, VACCHO is again calling on the government to put prison health care in the hands of health professionals and move all prison health care to a public health provider. Minister, will the government finally implement all these recommendations and transfer responsibility for prison health care from corrections to the health system?

Enver Erdogan: On a point of order, President, I think this question is better addressed to the Minister for Corrections in the other place. Justice health and decisions about health care in correctional settings are for the Minister for Corrections in the other place, Minister Spence, so I am not sure if this question is correctly directed to the Minister for Health in this place. I am just seeking your clarification.

The PRESIDENT: I think the Minister for Health can address the question, and she may make that point herself.

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Special Minister of State) (12:50): My colleague is correct; these matters fall within the responsibility of the Minister for Corrections. But obviously I am aware of the representations that have been made, particularly by VACCHO and our community-controlled organisations across the state, about the provision of health care in our corrections system. It is also a matter that has been a recommendation of the Yoorrook Justice Commission, and of course the government is in the process of considering those recommendations. But I think that it would be more appropriate for the specifics contained in Ms Copsey’s question – and I am happy to pass this on – to be referred to the Minister for Corrections, who is responsible for health services in prisons.

 Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (12:51): Thank you for that offer, Minister. No, I am interested in your response and your government’s response, so I do not need that question reinstated. Your answer is what you gave. Detailed findings of the Victorian Ombudsman’s 2024 investigation into healthcare provision for Aboriginal people in Victorian prisons show that previous reviews repeatedly identified the same themes: cultural safety must be embedded, Aboriginal organisations should be decision-makers rather than merely consulted, Aboriginal health organisations should provide prison health care, and Aboriginal-led services need adequate funding. The Ombudsman specifically observed that the cultural review’s recommendation for a public health model had at one point only been implemented in the women’s system so far. VACCHO, as you mentioned, is asking for $1.7 million, Minister, to develop an ACCO-led model of prison health and wellbeing care for Aboriginal people – a very modest investment to begin implementing reforms that successive reviews have already recommended, not just represented. Minister, will you fund VACCHO’s $1.7 million proposal, and if not, why not?

The PRESIDENT: The minister will answer in line with her portfolio responsibilities.

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Special Minister of State) (12:52): This is definitely a matter that does not fall within my responsibilities. However, I think that you may have noted from my ministers statement today that these matters have been the subject of discussion at a round table of state and territory ACCOs from around the country. Indeed the provision of health services did come up at that event, and it is something that all states and territories, including Victoria, are in discussions with our peak bodies in our respective states around. As I have already indicated, there are also recommendations that the government will be responding to in relation to the Yoorrook Justice Commission.