Benambra electorate
Bill TILLEY (Benambra) (14:50): (668) My constituency question is to the Minister for Health. What additional funding has been requested by the New South Wales government to meet the reassessed costs of the makeover at the Albury campus of Albury Wodonga Health? I suspect that this government has been dudded with the project, misled by bureaucrats hoping the initial funding would loosen the purse strings to meet the real cost. They knew it could not be done for the money or on that site. They say the costings have blown out by $100 million. The failure of this plan is well documented. The site is too small, the ground is unstable, power and sewerage infrastructure are inadequate, and the road network and parking are shot. Before the 2022 election the then Premier stood on that site and declared that Victoria’s $225 million would deliver a single-site hospital for Albury–Wodonga’s catchment of 250,000 people. It simply will not work. I plead with the government: let us work together on a solution. We can do better, and we must do better.