Referencing reports that alleged state crisis talks had taken place at Ambulance Victoria, Ms Cleeland said under-resourcing was leading to risky delays.
“The delays in our ambulance services are not just inconveniences — they are life-threatening,” Ms Cleeland said while speaking in parliament.
“When an ambulance is delayed or sitting idle, it’s not just a statistic — it’s someone’s mother, father, child, or friend waiting for critical care.
“The government’s failure to fix this is costing lives.”
Ms Cleeland also said one-third of the metro ambulance fleet was offline during the weekend of March 15.
A Victorian Government spokesperson has refuted Ms Cleeland’s claims.
“There was a proactive, precautionary alert put out to health services and paramedics due to the hot weather and the significant number of people attending the grand prix and AFL matches in Melbourne — it did what it was meant to do and there were no issues,” the spokesperson said.
“There are no crisis talks at Ambulance Victoria — simple, operational weekly debrief is standard.
“The member for Euroa is once again having trouble with the truth.”
Ms Cleeland also raised concerns about ambulance wait times and the protection of frontline healthcare services in regional areas.
“At a time when they are needed most, regional Victorians are watching their hospitals shut down services and their emergency responders stretched beyond capacity,” Ms Cleeland said.
“And instead of fixing these failures, the government is actively stripping support away from families who rely on the public health system.
“Our health system is broken.”
In response, the spokesperson said the government had been, and would in future be, committed to the continuing growth of health services.
“The Allan Labor Government has increased the number of on-road paramedics by more than 50 per cent, recruiting more than 2200 additional paramedics since 2014,” the spokesperson said.
“Ms Cleeland’s colleagues went to war with them the last time they were in government.
“We’re investing more than ever before in our health system with record funding year-on-year — Ms Cleeland’s Liberal National colleagues cut, closed and privatised hospitals across the state.”
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