Parochialism should be left to football, not critical public health needs.
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That, Border Medical Association deputy chair David Clancy said, was a key way to find a way forward on achieving a new hospital for the Albury-Wodonga region.
Dr Clancy said the association believed much could be achieved if the NSW and Victorian governments, along with the possibly key involvement of the federal government, worked in a co-operative fashion.
"There will always be politics when it comes to funding," he said.
But when it came to achieving the shared goal of a new hospital such politics needed to be put aside.
Dr Clancy said there were many ways in which funding for a new hospital could be achieved, in terms of agreements and funding arrangements, yet these were not being canvassed.
An example would be to have the federal government pay the full cost for building the hospital, then lease its full operations back to the states.
Farrer MP Sussan Ley recently attacked Victorian Premier Dan Andrews in response to her frustrations in not being able to, through a Freedom of Information request, obtain what she said was now a "draft" master plan for a possible new hospital.
Ms Ley said the Commonwealth needed access to this plan so it could determine how it might be able to contribute to the hospital.
Dr Clancy said the association's view was that there needed to be a coming together of premiers and ministers from the states and the Commonwealth as part of the essential task of "acknowledging that this needs to be done".
"And that's where any parochialism is for football. If you want to be parochial, go and follow a football team but it's not for health."
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