Wednesday, 31 August 2022

Pandemic Declaration Accountability and Oversight Committee

Review of pandemic orders

Ms CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (17:32): I rise to speak to the report undertaken by the Pandemic Declaration Accountability and Oversight Committee titled Review of the Pandemic (Visitors to Hospitals and Care Facilities) Orders. Today is International Overdose Awareness Day, and throughout the course of our inquiry we heard from a number of witnesses and organisations who provided submissions to the committee, including the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association (VAADA), one of the peak bodies who represent alcohol and other drug service providers in Victoria. In the evidence they provided to the committee were some very alarming statistics. I have spoken on these statistics previously—about the number of people calling helplines for alcohol and other drug related issues and how calls to those helplines doubled from 2019 to 2020. What was really concerning was the numbers, which they spoke to us about, of fatal overdoses that came from the Coroners Court.

Also very concerning was the number of people relapsing who were in these programs and who were under such immense stress and anxiety through the lockdowns. Through the heightened times of COVID and the very extensive lockdowns that Victoria had, people who were seeking treatment relapsed. Concerningly also treatment agencies were talking about the fact that throughout the pandemic the number of people taking novel benzodiazepines had increased. Their words were that there was ‘a dramatic increase’ in fatal overdoses involving these substances, from zero deaths in 2017 to 28 at the height of the lockdowns in 2020. So it is very, very concerning that the number of people who were seeking assistance increased again from 2020 through the pandemic, when it was raging here in Victoria and we had a number of lockdowns, into 2021, when of course we had the world’s longest lockdown.

So those people waiting on the waitlist to get into support services had increased from 2385 to 3599 from July 2020 to July 2021, so that was an increase of nearly 51 per cent seeking help. So these are very significant issues, and what was concerning to all VAADA was also the fact that there was concern around the ability for organisations to meet the current demand but also future demands. They expressed their concern, as do we, about the budget cuts that the Andrews government had undertaken in this area. There were 100 workers that will not be continuing in 2023. That, in their words, is a significant cut in capacity, and this cut will be a retrograde step in the ability for these organisations to help and provide support to so many Victorians who have alcohol and drug issues.

As I said, the demand has not gone away. In fact it has increased over this period of the last 2½ years largely because of the harsh restrictions and the very real impacts to people who either are waiting in pain or have mental health issues that have been significant due to being in isolation. We have heard that from many, many people but alarmingly, and importantly, for children. The impacts to children have been very significant.

Can I say again how disappointed I am that for the last three meetings the committee has not been able to meet because government MPs have failed to turn up at the very last minute. Within an hour of the committee meeting we are being told that we cannot meet because the government MPs are not available. We cannot form a quorum. This is a disgrace. Victoria still has a pandemic declaration in place, yet the contempt the government is showing for this committee and for the people of Victoria by not meeting demonstrates just the level and the extent they will go to to cover up the incompetence around what needs to be done. Now, while we have got this pandemic declaration in place I think we need the chief health officer back. He has been standing side by side by the Premier and ministers, but he has not been before the committee since 31 January. I think this is a gross—

Mr Davis: He’s been put in the freezer.

Ms CROZIER: He has been put in the freezer, Mr Davis. (Time expired)