Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently, I made a freedom-of-information request to the office of the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler, asking for documents related to the redevelopment of Albury Base Hospital and/or infrastructure at Albury Wodonga Health, including correspondence and briefing notes.

In making this request, I wasn't hoping for a 'gotcha' moment for the minister, but to understand what representations the New South Wales and Victorian governments had been making on the only cross-border health service in the nation. Just five documents were released. There were no letters from the Victorian Minister for Health, Mary-Anne Thomas, nor the New South Wales Minister for Health, Ryan Park. The case is clear: we need a new hospital on the border. Whether it's a greenfield or brownfield site, we know the funding promise so far will not build a state-of-the-art single-site hospital that meets our community's needs for years to come. It would make sense to me if the states were asking for the federal government to invest in this project. I certainly am.

These documents show a lack of effort by the Victorian and New South Wales governments to get a better deal for people on the border. There are many examples of federal governments investing in building new hospitals, but when I speak to the government I am often told that hospitals are a state government responsibility and that the states would need to make the ask. I am dumbfounded that it appears that there isn't any correspondence on this topic at all from the states— (Time expired)