Depending on who you approach, the answer is never the same - or, perhaps more so, depressingly similar.

It seems no one at the federal or state level is willing to show the vision or political courage to make a definitive commitment.

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What exactly they're afraid of in doing so is quite the mystery.

It's abundantly clear to anyone with any nous, with even a rudimentary understanding of the troubles plaguing the provision of public health services in the Border region, that it's in our own backyard that the perfect candidate for an urgently required, big-ticket public infrastructure project can be found.

It'd cost a billion dollars, but we'd have a hospital able to serve a rapidly growing community for decades to come.

The only exception to the chronic avoid-the-elephant-in-the-room syndrome that's plaguing our political masters is Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy.

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He recently announced that if elected he'd happily throw $300 million into the mix, with the expectation the NSW and federal governments would follow suit.

Yes, this needs to be seen within the context of an incumbent Labor government expected to yet again comfortably retain power.

Nevertheless, it's a commitment that Premier Daniel Andrews has - afforded to him by repeat election victories - all-too readily failed to countenance.

It is surprising then that Mr Guy's NSW party colleagues, who are actually in government, are acting more like the Labor mob down south.

High-profile NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard won't even say whether his government supports a new Border hospital or a redevelopment of the inadequate Albury site.

He reckons it's up to the Albury Wodonga Health board to argue that case, which given its abject failure to do so would suggest Mr Hazzard barely knows where Albury could be found on a map.

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Instead, it's the Labor opposition pushing the cause in the NSW Parliament.

This sad, cynical sideshow means the public health needs of our region continue to be treated with disdain.

It has to end.

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