One wonders why people embark on stirring the pot when the pot is empty.
This is the time to be positive. Should funding for a new hospital be approved, it will be the biggest single public investment this region has seen in 100 years.
It will employ lots of people over a long construction period, it will radically alter the delivery of health services in the northern Mallee and with luck deliver the vision for a training facility that would be a partnership between Monash and La Trobe universities and Mildura Base Public Hospital.
Just picture the possibility of a dedicated training facility here in our backyard. A place where health professionals can combine academic and practical training under the same roof in a world-class facility.
It will not only attract students from across the nation, but potentially around the world, and give students coming out of Year 12 locally the option of staying in the region.
That is something to aspire to and worth putting pressure on both the State and Federal governments.
A more pertinent question at this stage of the game is to make sure that there’s a plan for the existing hospital, given the strong chance that the new one won’t be built on the same location.
With its existing infrastructure of kitchens, labs, 70-plus beds, what could it be used for?
Back in the days when the hospital in Thirteenth Street was abandoned, there was no plan for its next use. It was surrounded by a fence for a long until someone saw fit to redevelop it.
Rumours were abundant even then. Someone put out a fake story about the building having cement cancer. I got RMIT University involved to play around with architecture students’ ideas about reinventing the space.
Now I am glad to say that it is a viable set of inner-city apartments, but what if the council leaders had bought it at the time when the price was ridiculously low?
With plenty of parking spaces, it could have been developed into something, but that is a debate we never had and I guess we’ll never know now what could have been.
I think a discussion on the present site and its future use would be welcome as soon as the result of the feasibility study is released.
As a community we should be welcoming any funding we receive from the State and Federal governments to improve health care in the region.
Debate is healthy and it means people in the community are engaged and interested in the future of the region.
Part of ensuring a successful future for the northern Mallee is securing major projects like the development of a new hospital and using the existing infrastructure to ensure the whole community benefits.
Wherever a new hospital is built, it will be a great economic boost for the whole region. Instead of debating the negatives, why not focus on all the positives, like more jobs and what potentially could be done with the old hospital?
It would be far more constructive to start the debate around what the old site could be used for than focusing on where the new one is, when no one has any insight or information.
Community debate is fantastic and I encourage it, as long it is not used for self-interest, is correct and not based on hearsay and innuendo.
