The state government has been criticised for spending $1.8 million in five months on political advertising on health.
The health department’s 2013-14 report tabled in Parliament on Thursday, shows the Napthine government spent $646,284 on “building a healthier Victoria” advertisements that spruiked hospital redevelopments in April and May.
That came on top of spending to research, develop and evaluate the campaign, at an overall cost of $1.3 million.
The report says the campaign’s purpose was to “inform Victorians of the investment being made in health infrastructure and workforce capacity”.
The campaign includes television and print advertisements which detail government spending on various hospital redevelopments and when they are due to be completed.
The advertisements continue to run ahead of next month’s state election, suggesting costs will be higher than those detailed in the report.
Costs came on top of $465,963 spent by the government on newspaper advertisements about a government pay offer to paramedics, which Health Minister David Davis described as “generous”.
The advertisements, which ran between December and February, have been criticised as a waste of money by the ambulance union and Labor opposition.
Paramedics have been negotiating with Ambulance Victoria and the government for more than two years over a new enterprise bargaining agreement, after demanding a pay rise of 30 per cent over three years.
Last November they rejected a government pay offer of 12 per cent over three years because it would have allowed Ambulance Victoria to argue for more “workplace flexibility”, including cutting back on entitlements, before the Fair Work Commission.