Coalition Commits to Ambulances

Member for Narracan Gary Blackwood has flagged the recruitment of 340 new ambulance officers as an important move to rebuild the resources of Ambulance Victoria.

'This is a $151 million dollar state wide plan to address one of the most important issues facing the safety of regional Victorians' Mr Blackwood said.

The 340 new officers across the state will include 40 new paramedics and 6 new patient transport officers for the Gippsland region.

'The announcement recognises the needs of regional Victoria and importantly the Gippsland region which has been ignored by the Brumby Labor Government for too long.

'Every time I talk to paramedics and ambulance officers the story is the same. They feel under pressure and not supported by the Brumby Government. This policy has been created to support them as they support the community.

'It will ensure more paramedics and patient transport officers are available when the community needs them and that they are able to respond as quickly as possible.

'We have already made a series of health announcements, including the $1 billion health infrastructure fund, and this announcement today is another step towards addressing the communities concerns on service delivery and response times,' said Mr Blackwood.

Part of the announcement includes a $3 million dollar recruitment and relocation package to attract new paramedics to regional areas.

'We'll work with Ambulance Victoria and paramedics to determine the best way to create incentives for people to shift to our regional areas. This will provide qualified staff to boost our highly professional country ambulance workforce.

'This will be the single biggest increase in additional staffing for the ambulance service in Victorias history and after 11 years of neglect from the Labor Government its time to start rebuilding Ambulance Victoria for the future' said Mr Blackwood.