What other conclusion could be drawn from the inept, though loudly trumpeted concoction that cynically and ineptly has been foisted upon the Border region?

We have been waiting three years for this federal government to come up with what was required, as it repeatedly assured us it would.

Instead, all we have is a shell of a vision for our region's promising future.

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We urgently need $300 million for a new hospital, on a par with what other regional cities have been afforded.

But is that in the deal? No, not even a whisper.

The Morrison government has made a spectacular habit of promising everything, doing nothing and then talking-up its view that, well, we all should be grateful for the Scrooge-like largess directed our way.

The failure to deliver bushfire recovery funds to areas devastated by the 2019-20 blazes, the failure to deliver on a national integrity commission - the list continues.

This doesn't mean the Border does not welcome some of what was announced.

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Yes, the funding for Albury Wodonga Health - covering housing and accommodation for health workers - and the $22 million for Wodonga TAFE's heavy vehicle technology program is greatly appreciated.

But we should not be expected to get down on our knees in eternal gratitude for such things when this should simply be a natural consequence of competent, fair-minded governance.

On the cusp of a federal election, one where the Coalition has hopes of winning back the once-unlosable seat of Indi, we have a last-minute panic job.

As pointed out by Helen Haines - the independent who took over from the independent Cathy McGowan - this deal "was a drop in the ocean compared to other deals the federal government has struck".

The deal was supposed to be about the Border's future.

OUR SAY - GIVE US A NEW HOSPITAL:

And yet we must still remind you, Scott Morrison and Sussan Ley, that the knowledge informing the building blocks for such a future is here right now.

That is so because we know what the Border region needs to reach its full potential.

You clearly don't.

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