Victoria's ailing health system has been the focus of a day of pre-election announcements, with the government dismissing an opposition plan to move patients to Melbourne's nearly-empty quarantine facility.
The state Liberal Party said on Sunday it would investigate the possibility of repurposing 250 beds at the Centre for National Resilience for hospital patients.
The Prime Minister said he had already canvassed the idea, and it was not clinically safe to pretend it's a hospital The centre in Mickleham, Melbourne's outer north, opened in February this year, the day international border rules were eased for unvaccinated travellers.
The centre has capacity to house 1,000 people, but the opposition said only 34 beds were occupied on Friday. It was home to 42 people on Sunday.
Shadow Health Minister Georgie Crozier said the Coalition would aim to use the centre for non-acute patients who were well enough to leave hospital but still need care.
The opposition said it would aim to use federal Australian Defence Force personnel in conjunction with Victorian health staff when questioned about who would provide care.
The centre is located on Commonwealth land and cost the federal government about $580 million to build. The state government is responsible for the centre's daily operations while the pandemic is in force, at an estimated cost of 1.5 million per week.
This idea is about freeing up beds, beds for the sickest, beds for people who come to a hospital on an ambulance and ramp because there is no beds for them to go into, Opposition Leader Matt Guy said.
He said he would fund the expected $35 million over 12 months with plans to scrap the multi billion dollar Suburban Rail Loop and redirect funds to health if it wins the election.
He said he had not approached the federal government about the proposal.
The entire health system is under immense strain, with wait times for GPs, surgery, ambulances and emergency department admission all significantly higher than a year ago.
The Victorian branch of the Australian Medical Association AMA told the BBC that it approached the government last month about using the Mickleham site for non-acute NDIS patients who were stuck in hospitals waiting for care.
Premier Daniel Andrews said that his government had looked at whether there was scope to repurpose the facility.
The answer from the experts, the doctors, is that it is not clinically safe to do that, he said.
Andrews pointed out the Better at Home program of the government as a pathway for patients well enough to leave hospital but still need care, and the plan to recruit and train more than 7,000 new staff.
If you're well enough to leave the hospital, if you're well enough to go to Mickleham for instance, then you're well enough to go home, he said.
Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas was speaking alongside Andrews as they announced five new primary care clinics in a bid to take pressure off the state's strained health system.
The Priority Primary Care Centres will be built between September and November — the month of the election — close to the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Northern Hospital Epping, Sunshine Hospital, Monash Medical Centre Clayton and Grampians Health Ballarat.
They'll be designed to open 24-7 and respond to issues like burns, slips and trips, according to Andrews.
The $14.3 million to fund the new centres will be taken from the $12 billion that the government has allocated to respond to the heath crisis.
The Labor government has had eight years to get this right and they haven't, Guy said.
The Premier's announcements were made at five minutes to midnight, just before an election.