{"id":317486,"date":"2026-02-03T04:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T04:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/317486\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T04:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T04:40:10","slug":"vichealth-given-a-lifeline-as-opposition-vows-to-block-health-promotion-agencys-axing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/317486\/","title":{"rendered":"VicHealth given a lifeline as opposition vows to block health promotion agency’s axing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Premier Jacinta Allan’s plan to axe VicHealth is set to fail, with the opposition joining the Greens to block legislation that would absorb the health promotion agency into the health department.<\/p>\n

It comes days after Greens MP Tim Read, who was recently diagnosed with metastatic cancer, vowed to use his last year in parliament to fight the government’s planned closure of the world’s first health promotion agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The government plans to end VicHealth’s 40-year independence by absorbing its health promotion work into the Department of Health.<\/p>\n

Abolishing the agency was a recommendation made in a recent cost-cutting review of the public service<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

VicHealth has for decades funded preventative health initiatives such as the SunSmart campaign. (VicHealth)<\/p>\n

Premier Jacinta Allan defended the plans, calling the current arrangement outdated.<\/p>\n

“That critically important preventative work, the public health work, is not only going to continue but be better integrated into a healthcare landscape that has changed dramatically over the past 40 years,” Ms Allan said.<\/p>\n

“We need to look at new ways of preventative health \u2026 we need new solutions, not those of the past.”<\/p>\n

\"Jacinta<\/p>\n

Jacinta Allan says VicHealth’s services would be improved under the government’s plan. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

If both the Greens and the Coalition vote against the proposal, the government will find it very difficult to pass the change in the upper house.<\/p>\n

“We believe VicHealth has a real role to play in preventative health,” Shadow Health Minister Georgie Crozier said.<\/p>\n

“The government needs to explain where that money is going and why VicHealth is being abolished.”<\/p>\n

Nearly four decades of preventative health campaigns<\/p>\n

VicHealth was set up with bipartisan support under the Cain Labor Government in 1987.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Laws banned outdoor tobacco advertising and used taxes on cigarettes to fund sports and the arts, as well as running major health promotion programs.<\/p>\n

“They have been world-leading in some of these preventative health campaigns,” Ms Crozier said.<\/p>\n

“I think if it gets swallowed up in the Department of Health, it will be swallowed up in their budget blackhole.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

VicHealth invested heavily in anti-smoking advertising across Victoria in its initial years. (VicHealth)<\/p>\n

Four-time AFL premiership player David Parkin, who is also a former VicHealth board member, urged MPs to save VicHealth because of the number of lives it saved.<\/p>\n

The agency played a major role raising awareness of the risk of prostate cancer among men whose fathers had the disease.<\/p>\n

Mr Parkin, a prostate cancer survivor, said the workshops and programs he was involved in with VicHealth were among “the most fulfilling responsibilities I’ve had”.<\/p>\n

“I’m proud to say I was involved in saving a lot of blokes’ lives,” Mr Parkin told the ABC.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

AFL legend and former VicHealth board member David Parkin says the service has saved lives. (ABC News: Natasha Johnson)<\/p>\n

When VicHealth was first set up in the 1980s, it was a major sponsor of the Fitzroy Football Club, where Mr Parkin was the senior coach.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The agency’s anti-smoking campaigns also had a major impact on smoking, he said, which he saw firsthand during his long involvement with football.<\/p>\n

Mr Parkin, who served on the VicHealth board for many years, said it was essential that the agency was saved.<\/p>\n

Cutting agency will cost more in long run: MP<\/p>\n

Dr Read welcomed the Coalition’s position and warned the government against defunding VicHealth, which received $47.1 million in state funding last financial year.<\/p>\n

“Cutting VicHealth would be a false economy,” Dr Read said.<\/p>\n

“This government spends just a pittance on the prevention of disease and that’s what saves us money in the end, because of conditions like diabetes and cancer filling up our hospital wards.”<\/p>\n

\"Brunswick<\/p>\n

Brunswick MP Tim Read has vowed to fight the agency’s closure before his retirement from politics. (ABC News: Darryl Torpey)<\/p>\n

Dr Read accused the government of “clipping the wings” of VicHealth for years.\u200b<\/p>\n

CPSU Branch Secretary Jiselle Hanna said “the broad and diverse opposition to this is a positive step, it shows how important VicHealth is”.<\/p>\n

“It’s not over yet and we will continue to defend VicHealth and our members until this ill-conceived and needless cut is withdrawn,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Premier Jacinta Allan’s plan to axe VicHealth is set to fail, with the opposition joining the Greens to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[275],"tags":[153963,3496,18,151823,135,475,474,19,17,67530,6045,22551,73825,153964,153962],"class_list":["post-317486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-david-parkin","tag-department-of-health","tag-eire","tag-greens","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jacinta-allan","tag-labor","tag-liberal","tag-opposition","tag-tim-read","tag-vichealth"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116004862366537966","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}