What the parties have promised
With Victorians preparing to head to the polls later this month, Cancer Council has reviewed the commitments made by the three major political parties regarding cancer prevention, research and support.
Find out below what the parties have promised in the fight against cancer.
A re-elected Labor Government will:
- Increase respite care hours and support services for carers by committing $49.5 million to fund an extra 100,000 hours of respite care each year. This will allow an extra 5,000 Victorians to access respite care, giving carers a break and the peace of mind that their loved one is receiving high quality care in short stay accommodation, on camps or day excursions.
- Labor will also make sure carers get emotional support and information about services they can access with $4 million in grants for both grass roots and state-wide carer support groups. Labor will provide all Victorian carers with half price travel on public transport all year round.
A Liberal Nationals Government will:
- Bring Norm and his family from ‘Life. Be in it.’ out of retirement for a new campaign, investing $60 million over five years to promote positive health and wellbeing for Victorians.
- Increase Victorian Patient Transport Access Scheme (VPTAS) funding by $35.1 million to raise reimbursement rates for accommodation and mileage, provide funding for future population growth in regional cities and towns and speed up claims processing times. The nightly accommodation support will increase from $45 to $60 and the cents per kilometre reimbursement rate will rise from 21 cents to 25 cents.
- Subsidise and partially regulate hospital car parking fees, including funding up to $40 million to provide for around an extra 125,000 subsidised car parks each year, and rolling out a concession eligibility policy. They will also freeze the maximum daily rate to stop any increases for the next two years.
- Fund the Bowel Cancer Action Plan to improve early diagnosis of bowel cancer. This will include creating a public reporting requirement of colonoscopy wait times at public health providers to identify potential problems in the system. They will also undertake a $2 million bowel cancer public awareness campaign.
- Collect and publish new health system benchmarks, such as referral to treatment times (from GP referral to active treatment) and colonoscopy waiting times.
The Victorian Greens will:
- Implement preventative health initiatives to support good health from childhood and beyond, including:
- Investing $15 million per year in public information and education to increase Victoria’s rate of bowel cancer screening, reduce rates of smoking, and encourage healthier lifestyles to reduce rates of obesity.
- Restricting outdoor advertising of alcohol and junk food on public transport and billboards.
- Restricting children targeted alcohol advertising outside licensed venues.
- Phasing out junk food advertising from children’s sport.
- Restricting the availability of sugary drinks in all public schools, sports clubs and hospitals.
To learn about the key areas we would like to see the next Victorian Government address, read our election priorities.