Asthma response
THE Andrews Government will develop a Victorian-first real-time monitoring system to track emergency demand and ensure a faster response to large-scale emergencies like thunderstorm asthma events.
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The system will be funded in the Victorian Budget 2017-18, as part of a $15.56 million package to make sure we are better able to predict and respond to similar large-scale events. This announcement comes with the release of the final report from the Inspector-General for Emergency Management into the thunderstorm asthma event of November 21 and 22.
The report found there was no evidence to suggest that this storm would result in a health emergency of such unprecedented scale and consequences, and that Victoria had no way of predicting the likely extent, or duration of the event. It confirms that never before had hospitals, ambulance services and emergency call takers experienced such rapid-onset demand in such a condensed time period, and across such a large geographical area. It found Ambulance Victoria received the biggest number of requests for assistance within the shortest period, in Victoria’s history.
In his findings, the Inspector-General acknowledges that all those involved in responding to the event did a remarkable job in dealing with the unexpected and unprecedented demand.
The Labor Government has accepted in-principle all recommendations in the report, with work already underway to implement them. This work builds on the significant steps already taken to strengthen our ability to better understand, predict and respond to events like this in the future. This includes a complete overhaul of the State Health Emergency Response.
It will be supported by $15.56 million in funding, which includes:
- Emergency management training for hospitals and health workers;
- More research to improve our understanding and treatment of thunderstorm asthma;
- Education and engagement campaigns to assist communities to prepare for and respond to thunderstorm asthma;
- Increased monitoring and interpretation of pollen data;
- Research to inform forecasting, modelling and response protocols; and
- Improved real-time monitoring of data sources, including emergency department demand.
We’re putting in place the right systems and training, so that if thunderstorm asthma or another extreme weather event happens, we’re as ready as we possibly can be.
Jill Hennessy, Health and Ambulance Services Minister
Biosecurity measures
THE Victorian Farmers Federation commends the Andrews Government for committing more than $40 million over the next two years into maintaining the state’s rigorous biosecurity measures.
Australia’s stringent biosecurity protocols are the reason our farmers can compete in global markets, so it’s fantastic to see the government make a serious funding promise to maintain the quality of our biosecurity.
A two-year commitment is better than the one-year commitment we’ve seen in the past, but our reputation as a nation free from many of the diseases and pests that plague the rest of the world is still on the line.
We expect essential services such as police and health departments will receive permanent funding to perform their duties, and biosecurity needs to rank on that scale as an essential service that is necessary to preserving the agriculture industry.
The VFF has previously criticised budget cuts which saw biosecurity funding slashed by 49 per cent in 2009-10 and 2014-15 and we have been highlighting the risks of eroding funding for biosecurity for years.
It’s vital that this is addressed to give the farm sector the best chance to respond to any disease outbreaks.
David Jochinke, VFF president
