The Victorian State Budget 2026/27 provides $32.3 billion for the Victorian health system. ANMF welcomes funding that delivers on some important ANMF priorities including addressing OVA through sustained funding for the WorkSafe Victoria healthcare specific workplace inspectors, improving equity and access to healthcare through virtual and in home services and funding to operationalise much needed mental health reforms. However, ANMF is clear that more needs to be done in terms of workforce initiatives - additional nurses and midwives will be needed to staff expanded services, and the agreed-in-principle Hospital Classification Review, when enacted, will also require additional nurses and midwives to meet improved nurse and midwife to patient ratios.
BOOTS ON THE GROUND TO ADDRESS OCCUPATIONAL VIOLENCE AND AGGRESSION
ANMF welcomes additional and ongoing funding of the health specific workplace inspectors and the establishment of a dedicated healthcare enforcement compliance unit in WorkSafe.
‘We know from our members that occupational violence and aggression (OVA) remains a significant issue across the healthcare system,’ said ANMF (Vic Branch) Secretary Maddy Harradence.
‘This funding reflects a positive step towards addressing this insidious issue that needs a systemwide and statewide response. This funding should lead to more comprehensive and improved inspections, and more healthcare employers being held accountable where they fail to implement actions that keep their workers, and our members, safe.
We hope that more of the health specific WorkSafe inspectors will allow coverage across more of Victoria, to ensure that our members have the same support in Gippsland as they do in Geelong.’
Inspectors ensure workplaces are complying with OHS laws and provide advice and enforcement on employer and employee responsibilities and rights as well as practical guidance on hazard identification and risk controls.
The funding builds on the WorkSafe Victoria pilot program ANMF lobbied for where health-industry specific inspectors – who are either from a health background themselves or have undergone specific training to ensure that they understand the health environment – attend workplaces when there are safety concerns, or proactively visit workplaces to look at known issues within healthcare workplaces. With a good understanding of the health context and a presence in the workplace where these incidents are happening, these inspectors have better engagement with workers, and understand what systems are practical and should be in place to improve safety in these complex settings. They will also be well placed to identify consistent issues and systems, understand the legislative context and look at what can be done across the industry.
Violence in hospitals must be taken as seriously as factory accidents in manufacturing or falls in construction. That’s why the ANMF is continuing to call for the health care industry to be made a ‘regulated industry’ like the male-dominated mining and construction industries. Then we would expect to see prosecutions against hospitals and aged care services who fail to protect their nurses, midwives, and carers.
NURSES, MIDWIVES AND CARER WORKFORCE
ANMF (Vic Branch) welcomes the Victorian Government’s announcement that it will invest $15.1 million over four years to help increase the nursing workforce in the non-government aged care sector, including through improved graduate nurse pathways into aged care, and supporting personal care workers to transition to enrolled nursing roles.
This will support implementation of the reform of the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Amendment Bill that will see only qualified health practitioners – like registered and enrolled nurses – able to administer specific medicines and drugs in residential aged care.
ANMF (Vic Branch) has been campaigning for this change for years and welcomes the increased workforce to support new legislation from 1 July 2026 that will mean drugs such as local anaesthetics, antibiotics and medicines with strict legislative controls must be administered by registered health practitioners to any patient or resident who has a cognitive impairment or who is unable to self-administer their medications.
Secretary of the ANMF (Vic Branch) Maddy Harradence said, ‘This legislation supports more nurses to do the job they are qualified to do – medication administration is a core nursing responsibility and an essential part of delivering safe, high-quality, person-centred care. These changes reflect best practice care delivery, reduce risk to workers and residents and support nurses working to their full scope of practice.’
Investing $17 million to continue and expand the nurse-led Residential in Reach program that will see more experienced nurses providing assessment and follow up care to residents in aged care facilities, reducing risk of clinical deterioration, and improving access to healthcare while taking pressure off busy emergency departments.
As part of a $91.2 million investment in the healthcare workforce this budget will also deliver 250 additional graduate nursing and midwifery places. ANMF has been campaigning for additional graduate positions after many recently graduated nurses and midwives did not receive a confirmed graduate position in 2026.
“This is a step in the right direction in supporting our nursing and midwifery members, given we know of the nursing and midwifery shortages forecast over the next 10 years,” said ANMF Secretary Maddy Harradence.
EXPANDING VIRTUAL HOSPITAL MODELS AND IMPROVING ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH AND MATERNITY SERVICES
Important investments in mental health include delivering a new Mental Health Hospital in the Home program at Monash Health, expansion of crisis outreach teams consistent with the Mental Health Royal Commission reforms and providing 40 new beds at Thomas Embling Hospital. The virtual hospital pilot will be extended, delivering better and more equitable access to healthcare, particularly for regional Victorians.
$249 million for expanded maternity care in Melbourne’s west, including 32 new post-natal beds and 9 new special care nursery cots is welcome investment in our growth corridors but additional maternity workforce initiatives are needed to support this additional capacity.
About us:
The ANMF (Vic Branch) has over 111,000 members – nurses, midwives and aged care personal care workers – across the Victorian health and aged care sectors.
Contact details:
Media contact: Liz Ascroft 0498 556 231