Family First's Victorian Upper House candidates Bernie Finn and Jane Foreman have condemned St Vincent's Hospital's decision to fast-track Indigenous patients in its emergency department, saying health care in Victoria must always be based on need, not race.
"Every Victorian deserves to be treated equally — full stop," Mr Finn said. "Medical treatment should be determined by urgency and clinical need, not skin colour or ancestry. Anything less violates the Hippocratic Oath and undermines the very idea of equality before the law."
The Herald Sun revealed this week that St Vincent's Hospital had implemented a policy requiring all Indigenous patients to be treated within 30 minutes of arrival — the first such race-based triage policy in Australia. A public poll showed that 95 per cent of respondents opposed the move.
"People are right to be angry," Ms Foreman said. "We all want to close the health gap for disadvantaged Australians, but the way to do that is by improving access and outcomes for everyone in need — not by introducing racial preferences in emergency wards."
Family First said Victoria's health system should reflect compassion, fairness and equality — principles that are incompatible with racial segregation in care.
"Racism in any form is wrong — even when it's dressed up as compassion," Mr Finn said. "Doctors take an oath to treat patients according to need. That's what Victorians expect when they walk into a hospital."
Ms Foreman added that the Allan Government's push for a state Treaty risked entrenching more racial division across public services.
"Policies like this are the logical outcome of a government obsessed with identity politics," she said. "It's time to restore the principle that all Victorians — Indigenous or non-Indigenous — are equal before the doctor's care, just as they are equal before the law."
