2025-11-20
Thanks to a successful community campaign led by local communities and Greens MPs, the Federal Government has stepped in with emergency funding to keep GP services open at cohealth in Fitzroy, Collingwood and Kensington until July 31 next year.
In October, cohealth announced they would have to close GP and counselling services at these sites by December 16, the the entire Collingwood site permanently in 2026, due to insufficient funding from both federal and state governments.
Since the announcement, the Greens at all levels of government joined with the community to run a huge campaign to pressure Labor to deliver funding to keep cohealth open. Hundreds attended community meetings in Richmond and Kensington, and the Greens brought questions, petitions and motions before the state and Federal Parliaments last week.
The fight to save community health centres is not over - as this emergency funding package will run out after July next year. It does, however, buy time for the state and Federal Governments to come up with a sustainable model of funding that recognises the vital work that community health services provide, particularly for vulnerable patients with complex health needs.
The Greens will continue to work with the community to ensure that the government comes up with a solution in time to prevent cohealth from closing down permanently in July.
Quotes attributable to Leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell.
“It’s thanks to a huge community response that Labor finally felt the pressure and coughed up these emergency funds. It’s a big relief to have the closure deferred, but now we need a long-term funding solution from state and federal governments to keep community healthcare open for good.”
Quotes attributable to Victorian Greens Member for Richmond, Gabrielle de Vietri:
“This win belongs to our community who came together and wouldn’t let Labor off the hook.
“Going to the GP is bloody expensive and until the community fought back, Labor was prepared to push thousands of our most disadvantaged community members into a system hardly anyone can afford. Now they’ve come to the table with emergency funding, but we need Labor to back community health long-term.
This is not the end - we will keep fighting for this until cohealth is safe.
Quotes attributable to Federal Greens Senator Senator for Victoria, Steph Hodgins-May:
“Labor has let our primary health system crumble. Community clinics are closing because Medicare rebates don’t cover the complex care people need. If the Prime Minister wants to ease pressure on overcrowded hospitals, he needs to properly fund primary care and keep the doors open at cohealth for good.”