The Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) strongly rejects comments made by the Victorian Liberal Party’s Health Spokesperson Georgie Crozier about triage practices at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne.

The comments are misleading and show complete ignorance about how emergency departments operate.

There are three facts that VACCHO would like all Victorians to understand.

1. CLINICAL URGENCY DRIVES TRIAGE – FULL STOP.

In Australia, Emergency Departments use the Australasian Triage Scale (ATS), which classifies patients by clinical urgency. No Victorian hospital has departed from this standard. Every patient is assessed by a triage nurse, and the most urgent needs are always addressed first.

2. EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS ARE HOTSPOTS FOR RACISM – AND THAT MUST BE ADDRESSED.

Decades of research and evidence shows that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience racism in hospitals, and those interactions frequently happen in Emergency Department waiting areas.

The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM), representing emergency physicians across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, has explicitly called for Emergency Departments to become culturally safe spaces for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, recognising that racism and fear contribute directly to poorer clinical outcomes.

These are the reasons hospitals such as St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne are taking steps to ensure Aboriginal patients are engaged safely and promptly, within the clinical rules of triage, not outside them.

St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne regularly sees some of the most vulnerable members of the Victorian Community, including a lot of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Their vulnerability and struggles should NEVER be fodder for race baiting by politicians and the media.

We applaud St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne for working flexibly and responsively to provide equitable access to care for all people.

3. ACTION TO IMPROVE CULTURAL SAFETY IN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS COMMENCED UNDER THE LAST LIBERAL GOVERNMENT.

Contrary to Georgie Crozier’s reported claim that “this is a glimpse of what Jacinta Allen’s treaty will look like,” the drive to improve Aboriginal cultural safety in Emergency Departments actually began under Victoria’s last Liberal Government.

Victoria’s landmark Koolin Balit strategy (2012-2022) was the first major strategy to explicitly recognise and respond to racism in Victorian public hospitals and to improve the system’s responsiveness to the experiences of Aboriginal people.

That government also committed to specific initiatives to improve Aboriginal people’s experiences in hospitals – with a major focus on Emergency Departments.

VACCHO applauded that Liberal Government when Koolin Balit was launched, and we remind the current Liberal Party that it was a legacy to be proud of.

The current government has built on that foundation, embedding Aboriginal cultural safety as an accountability measure in the annual Statements of Priorities for every Victorian public health service. This measure occurred well before Victoria’s current Treaty legislation. This history reflects a long-standing bipartisan consensus that Closing the Gap in Aboriginal health outcomes is a shared commitment.

THIS IS A SHAMEFUL BETRAYAL OF A LEGACY OF BIPARTISANSHIP

For more than 15 years, Closing the Gap in Aboriginal health outcomes has always had bipartisan support from both Liberal and Labor Prime Ministers and Victorian Premiers.

The sudden attack on Aboriginal people in the media this week, fuelled by comments from Georgie Crozier, represents a shameful betrayal of that bipartisan legacy. We condemn it in the strongest possible terms.

Quotes attributable to Dr Jill Gallagher AO, CEO, VACCHO

“Every Victorian hospital triages all patients based on clinical urgency – that has always been integral to the workings of Emergency Departments.”

“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have an absolute right to access healthcare free from racism. All hospitals need to work hard to build and maintain the trust and confidence of people who have historical reasons to fear these places.”

“We recognise and applaud every hospital that takes action to eliminate racism – especially in Emergency Department waiting areas.”

Quotes attributable to Abe Ropitini, Executive Director Population Health, VACCHO

“Targeted action to improve Aboriginal cultural safety in Emergency Departments actually commenced under the last Liberal Government in Victoria. That is a legacy they should be proud of, because it was a serious commitment to Closing the Gap. It is disappointing they have traded in that legacy for race baiting and punching down on our most vulnerable people.”

“Emergency physicians and triage nurses see the social determinants of health playing out every day – the health impacts of trauma, poverty, and the other system failures. All health services need to be safe and responsive to the lived experiences of people presenting for help.”