Tuesday, 30 July 2024

Albury Wodonga Health

Bill TILLEY (Benambra) (19:07): (735) I wish to raise a matter for the attention of the Minister for Health, and the action I seek is for the minister to confirm that there will be no helipad atop the announced medical tower at Albury Wodonga Health’s Albury campus. Earlier this year and on the eve of a community forum held by the City of Wodonga council, the forum was concerned with the lack of vision of the $225 million investment from Victoria, jointly with New South Wales bringing it to $550 million. But the investment at Albury hospital had dropped this – the latest Albury campus redevelopment master plan – the day before this community forum.

Paul Edbrooke interjected.

Bill TILLEY: That is not a prop; they are notes that I have brought into the chamber. The thing about this is that the timing was absolutely curious. This was on 29 February this year, but the master plan was dated back in August 2023, almost six months earlier. It was a rolled-gold PR stunt, talking up the project and promising all sorts of new things, including a multistorey medical tower with a helipad. That plan, and my notes, did not mention the helipad once – it mentioned it 17 times. The only problem now is that the helipad appears to have magically disappeared before the release of the Albury campus redevelopment master plan. So here we are – we have got a mile of paperwork, and it seems to have disappeared before the time of the announcement. I have got copies of emails – more notes – which were provided, which I found from the New South Wales Legislative Council under a standing order of their council.

It is from Helen Riddell, a manager of this and a bit of that in the Victorian Department of Health, dated 23 January 2024. It states:

NSW and Vic … can confirm neither state have rated Albury as a retrieval hospital …

Therefore a helicopter retrieval is not seen as a requirement within the current planning timeframe (to 2036/37).

But there are a number of significant documents that give me significant concern that this project as a whole is dysfunctional. It continues to obscure the truth. It is an example of my community’s greatest fears. We know that the money that has been committed to this project is not enough. We know the two states are massaging the plans to fit the budget, not the health status of our community. It raises so many questions. What else is this government hiding? What else have you cut from the hospital? The minister has been sold a dud on this project and needs to fix it up.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Before I call the member for Wendouree, I would just like to remind members of Rulings from the Chair, Hansard, 4 February 2009, Speaker Lindell:

Anything may be considered a prop. Anything can be used as a prop; it depends on the manner in which it is used. For example, when a member deliberately held up a report, the Speaker ruled it was a prop.

I hope the house is reminded by this piece of information.