St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne introduced the policy in April 2024, which requires that all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders—Indigenous people from the stretch of Islands between Australia and New Guinea—be seen by medical staff within 30 minutes of arrival. This effectively has them jump the line ahead of other patients.
The hospital says the change was necessary to address data showing that Indigenous patients were waiting longer for treatment than others and were more likely to stay engaged in care if seen within the first hour. A spokesperson told The Herald Sun that the move has “had no negative impact on overall ED access and patient flow,” adding that emergency wait times for Indigenous and non-Indigenous patients are now supposedly “comparable.”
State Premier Jacinta Allan defended the policy on Tuesday, calling it “a good example” of improving outcomes for the disadvantaged. “First peoples have poorer outcomes and have been waiting longer to be treated,” she said.
Critics, according to the Daily Mail, have accused the hospital and the state government of introducing race-based treatment standards that will split the public.
Indigenous activist and Voice No campaigner Warren Mundine said triage decisions should depend solely on need, not race. “We aren’t asking for that—we’re asking to be treated like everyone else,” he said. “This is where governments try to do nice things and you wind up with idiot policies.”
Victorian Shadow Health Minister Georgie Crozier called the move “a form of discrimination that will only divide our society,” saying that it reflects the type of racial preference system that could follow under the state’s proposed Indigenous treaty legislation, set to be debated this week.
St Vincent’s has defended the policy, pointing to evidence that early engagement helps improve outcomes for First Nations patients. Indigenous patients account for roughly 5 percent of presentations at the hospital’s emergency department—the highest rate among Victorian hospitals.
