Labor pitches $1.5 billion plan to slash emergency wait times

Key points

• Premier Ben Carroll has promised to expand a dozen emergency departments by 25 per cent as Victorian Labor launches its bid for a fourth term. The $1.5 billion health package also includes 1,500 more health workers, half of them nurses, and 150 extra hospital beds, most opening next year.
• Labor says the expansions will cut waits by up to 20 per cent at hospitals in Melbourne and regional Victoria.
• The Australian Medical Association welcomed the funding but called for a review of the whole emergency care system.