2025-10-16
Vital local community health service cohealth Collingwood will permanently close after years of Labor ignoring warnings and pleas for funding – with medical services at cohealth Kensington and Fitzroy also set to shut.
Local Greens MP Gabrielle de Vietri has repeatedly called for urgent investment to repair and upgrade cohealth’s facilities, which provide affordable, accessible care for Collingwood residents.
The first letter she ever sent as an MP was to call for funding for cohealth Collingwood to upgrade their health centre and build 50 co-located community homes on their Collingwood site.
In 2019 cohealth appealed to the government for help, and in 2022 shared shocking footage of water flooding through the building.
It’s no secret that funding community health prevents visits to the hospital further down the line and long term benefits for the community and the healthcare system.
Despite this, the Labor Government failed to act – even after Infrastructure Victoria identified cohealth facilities as needing urgent investment.
Quotes attributable to the local Greens MP for Richmond, Gabrielle de Vietri:
“Cohealth Collingwood has supported our community for years and its closure will have a devastating impact, especially on some of our most vulnerable residents.
“The writing’s been on the wall for years for cohealth, and while Labor has chosen to look the other way, our community has watched this vital service crumble before our eyes.
“It’s indefensible that Labor is letting community health services collapse instead of investing in them at the time when we know people are struggling more than ever to afford basic healthcare.
“Funding for our health services should never be chucked in the too hard basket. Yet that’s exactly what Labor’s done, and it’s local communities like ours that suffer.”