Arabic version: مستخدمو برنامج السفر في فيكتوريا يواجهون تأخراً في سداد النفقات

According to ABC News, Victoria’s Labor government and the opposition have each promised $53.6 million for the Victorian Patient Transport Assistance Scheme if successful at next month’s state election. The scheme assists eligible Victorians who travel long distances for specialist medical treatment, but some regional users say reimbursement delays are leaving them under financial pressure.

Proposed changes would lift accommodation subsidies from $45 to $125 a night and fuel reimbursements from 21 cents to 35 cents per kilometre. Almost 30,000 regional Victorians use the scheme. To qualify, Australian citizens, permanent residents or refugees must travel 100 kilometres one way, or 500 kilometres within seven days, to the closest eligible specialist service within Victoria.

Mildura resident Lara Hamilton, who regularly flies to Melbourne for appointments, described the planned increase as a “bandaid” solution. She said she was waiting on claims worth thousands of dollars and that paper-form reimbursements had taken more than six months. The standard processing time is six to eight weeks. Wendy Rushforth, who uses the program with her husband Eddie for treatment-related travel, said the couple had reduced spending to save for appointments.

Health Minister Ingrid Stitt said the government had introduced an online portal and added resources to the claims-processing team to reduce waits. Shadow Health Minister Georgie Crozier said the Coalition had long advocated for higher accommodation and petrol rates. The Leukaemia Foundation’s National Patient Travel Scorecard ranks Victoria as having the country’s worst reimbursement options; under the proposed funding, it would move to equal first with South Australia. If either Labor or the Coalition forms government, the changes are expected to begin on July 1, 2027.