A new hospital is what matters

I’M aiming for a trifecta that’s never (so far as I know) been done in a single term: returning a privatised hospital to public management, securing a master plan for future redevelopment, and getting the capital funding for that plan.

The first two tasks have been achieved. I have five months on the clock to achieve the third.

We’ve had the Liberal Party literally fly in to say they will build us a $750 million greenfields site. I can’t recall such a significant election commitment being made to this electorate.

When we were a National Party safe seat in the lead-up to the 2018 election, the Coalition promised a fraction of that amount.

Between that extraordinary promise to our hospital by the Liberal Party, and the actions taken by the Labor Government during this term, we have changed the game for our hospital and community in ways many never thought was possible.

At this stage of the game, I want the community to be very clear about my strategy regarding the capital funding for a new hospital.

Despite being under pressure to play the Liberal Party’s game of brinkmanship with the government, and demand a greenfields site or nothing at all, I refuse to play that game.

For the Liberal Party, the $750 million hospital is about winning the seat back. The fact that the Liberals might not win Government and be unable to deliver on that commitment is not a big deal to them.

But for me – and the tens of thousands of Mallee residents who rely on Mildura Base Public Hospital – a new hospital is a very big deal.

I want a greenfields site too. But if the master plan says that it can’t be done for $750 million, I won’t be taking my bat and ball and going home.

I will be negotiating with the government for the next-best thing. And a full or substantial redevelopment of our hospital would be a win. I am not taking that option off the table.