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  • Free transport pledge for Vic health staff

    Author: AAP

Victorian nurses, age care workers and paramedics would be able to travel on public transport across the state for free under a new election promise.

The Liberals and Nationals are pledging to provide unlimited free public transport for all Victorian nurses, personal and aged care workers, allied health workers, paramedics and some other hospital workers if they win the November 26 poll.

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Others professionals in line to benefit are all midwives, nurse managers, educators and researchers, ambulance officers, dental assistants, special care workers, hospital patient transport orderlies and clerical staff.

All up more than 260,000 workers would be eligible for free travel across all metropolitan and V/Line public transport services 365 days a year until November 2026.

Each of the eligible public and private sector workers would apply for and be provided with a Myki card, similar to members of state parliament.

"It's straightforward, easy to administer and it's worthwhile," Opposition Leader Matthew Guy told reporters on Sunday, just over 100 days out from election day.

The policy is estimated to cost roughly $110 million but could save a daily user travelling across zone one and two in metro Melbourne up to $1800 a year, or $7200 over the four-year period.

It is designed to ease cost-of-living pressures and support frontline health workers, who have worked longer hours and more shifts to keep the health system afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Thousands of healthcare workers have been leaving the system over the last few years. They're exhausted, they're overworked," Mr Guy said.

"We need to incentivise them to stay. We need to get more people into our healthcare network."

Meanwhile, the Victorian government confirmed nearly 700 overseas health workers have arrived in the state in the past year as it pushes to hire 2000 extra from abroad by mid-2023 to make up for a shortfall of 7000 staff.

Almost 200 of the new arrivals have had their relocation costs of up to $10,000 if moving to a Melbourne, or $13,000 for regional Victoria, covered under the state's travel allowance scheme.

The first of two winter retention and surge payments of up to $1500 for Victorian public health workers will be made on Monday as part of a $353 million state government package announced in June.

Premier Daniel Andrews declined to say whether his government would match the opposition's public transport pledge, or if the retention payments would be extended.

"Let's get this winter retention bonus paid out first, then I'll very confidently predict that there will be many other good ideas," he told reporters at Melbourne's Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

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