Victoria to forge medical partnership with Israel

The Victorian government will pursue a formal, long-term medical research partnership with Israel’s leading hospitals, Premier Jacinta Allan announced at Melbourne’s annual Parliamentary Cocktail Reception marking Israel’s 78th Independence Day this week.

Allan, attending for the third time as Premier, said Victoria’s world-class medical research sector and Israeli innovation complemented each other, pointing to Israeli breakthroughs including the PillCam, exoskeleton technology for people with paralysis, and AI-driven cancer detection.

She said the new partnership would build on smaller existing arrangements, including an agreement with Sheba Medical Centre signed by Deputy Premier Ben Carroll during a visit to Israel. “I want Victoria to share once again in these breakthroughs, not just admire them from afar,” Allan said.

The Premier used the occasion to argue that governments needed to talk more about Israel, not less — and to do so in fuller terms than recent years had allowed. She said she feared young Australians were in danger of permanently judging Israel by the actions of its government rather than its people, and that reversing that required actively promoting Israel’s identity as a multilingual, multiracial democracy and a global leader in science, medicine and technology.

“A country is more than its government — a country is about its people,” she said.