00:00Minister, this morning when you were responding to a question about Blacktown Hospital, you
00:06said, and I quote, to my dismay, they built a hospital shy of what needed to be built
00:11in one of the fastest growing areas in the country, so we've had to expand that.
00:16Minister, to my dismay, you're delivering a coalition promise at Albury Hospital that
00:23falls well short of what needs to be built in one of the fastest growing areas of the
00:28country, to serve a regional community of 300,000 people. This redevelopment's been
00:34broadly criticised by clinicians, by the community, there's an alliance of 13
00:39regional councils asking for a different approach. If the business case that
00:45supports this particular approach to the redevelopment supports what you're doing,
00:50why wouldn't you voluntarily release that to reassure the community?
00:55Yeah, just a couple of things. I understand the release of the
00:58business case is something that is important to you and perhaps it's important to people
01:04on the ground there in Albury. This was a decision obviously made by the former
01:11government and through a cabinet process, so whilst I understand that you want that
01:18information, I am going to have a look at how we might be able to provide that
01:23information that doesn't put me at breach of cabinet in confidence, nor does it set up a precedent
01:31in relation to business cases, because some of those things have commercial sensitivities
01:37around that they can just go out into the public ether. Plus I'm also engaging with the Victorian
01:43government on this issue. So I don't have a direct answer for you right here right now, other than to
01:49say
01:50I'm trying to have a look at the way in which we might be able to provide that information to
01:54you in a
01:55way that doesn't breach that. However, probably from my perspective, it's important to note that
02:01this is half a billion dollar investment. I've heard that some people don't think it should be at that particular
02:09site.
02:10I think I asked the community just to take stock of the fact that that investment is also
02:18leveraging other investments that we've made into that site, including the Rural Cancer Centre,
02:24the School of Clinical Medicine, I think the University of New South does, the Hilltop Accommodation,
02:31the ED, the Brain and Mind Institute. There's one more, I think from memory there's also some key worker
02:39accommodation in there. So it's fairly new. So what we've tried to do is balance that and no doubt
02:45what the previous government tried to do is balance that. We're trying to leverage those assets.
02:49But I understand that you're after some more information. I'm prepared to have a look at what
02:54we might be able to do in a way that doesn't breach my obligations through cabinet in confidence processes.
03:00Thank you. I'm pleased to hear that you're engaging with Victoria, at least on this question,
03:05and we're not being entirely chucked in the too hard basket. You talked about the other facilities
03:11that are already on the site. At the moment, Minister, there is no Stage 2 planned at Albury.
03:17There was a previously designed Stage 2 that appeared in documents that I ordered to be released
03:23through the Parliament that you ruled out because that Stage 2 required the demolition of the brand new
03:29$30 million ED. At a previous hearing, I asked Ms. Kulander about the next step for a Stage 2
03:35and the answer was that it would be back to the drawing board for a new CSP. How on earth
03:41can you
03:41be confident that we'll ever get the services that we need on the current site when there isn't actually
03:46a plan for a Stage 2? Well, we, and I'm happy for Ms. Kulander to elaborate on this, other than
03:54to say
03:55that we are confident through some of the engagement with architects going forward that future stages
04:03like that are possible on that site. But given your interest in it, I'm happy for HI to provide a
04:13bit
04:14more detailed briefing to you about that. I know it's a service that you've been advocating for and the member
04:21for
04:22I know that he did when his party was in government. But I haven't been given the impression, unless Ms.
04:29Kulander
04:30says differently, that that type of stage is not possible on a future site, on that site. Ms. Kulander, I
04:36don't...
04:36It's all right. I might come back to Ms. Kulander in the afternoon. Thank you. Thanks for understanding.
04:39Just as long as I haven't given any information that's not accurate, I would rather that correct it.
04:44That's all. No, that's correct. Okay. Thank you.
04:46In May, the Auditor-General announced a performance audit of Health Capital Works and infrastructure
04:52delivery, including specifically the Albury-Wodonga Regional Hospital project to be examined.
04:57Would you wait to award the tender until the Auditor-General has released that report?
05:02Yes. So the Tender Evaluation Committee, for want of a better term, is finalising their recommendations for the
05:11preferred contractor in relation to this. The strategy, as is often the case, is to award in stages so that
05:18main work construction is actually awarded later in the year after the AG report will be handed down.
05:26So we won't be doing the main work contractor before that AG's report is handed down. Just the initial work,
05:37I think main work construction was sort of projected to be early 2027, give or take. I don't have an
05:45actual
05:46day after the northeast building was completed, but the initial work awarded will be enabled, the
05:54design to be finalised. So we won't be doing main construction before the AG's report's handed down into them.
06:00Thank you. That's a very sensible approach.
