Tuesday, 13 May 2025

Albury Wodonga Health

Bill TILLEY (Benambra) (13:07): The promise of a world-class hospital for Albury Wodonga Health is now a delusion. New South Wales’s Health Infrastructure recently advised it is yet to finalise the business case for this project, which was first announced in 2022. The business case is the key to unlocking Victoria’s $225 million for this project. It is already 18 months late. The scuttlebutt is they need to make more cuts to the project to fit the budget. What was originally promised was second best; now it is somewhere like fourth or fifth best. It will not meet our needs or reduce the chronic waiting list that for the second consecutive quarter was not reported. This is about people’s lives. One of those lives was a fellow by the name of Christopher Paull. He died on Tuesday 26 November last year. He was aged 52. Mr Paull had been waiting for a hip operation since 2021. That was meant to be a 90-‍day wait – priority one. He had vascular necrosis in his hip, which means effectively his hip was dead. He was on massive painkillers, and they did nothing. He died at about 10:30 am. At 10:45 am that same day a message was left on his message bank telling him another surgeon could see him on Monday. This is the real cost of Labor’s spin, politics and pretence. Rest in peace, Christopher Paull, and heaven help any others on our waiting list.