East Albury hospital origin has echoes today amid debate upgrade

It reads like what is unfolding on the Border now, but in a sign of history echoing, it refers to what occurred in the early 1990s.

That was when the NSW government was being urged to build a new Albury Base Hospital to replace the site in Wodonga Place, opposite the botanic gardens, which had housed patients since 1918.

Liberal MP Ian Glachan seeking to be re-elected after winning Albury from the Labor Party in 1988, jumped in a bulldozer in January 1991 in the lead-up to that May's election to turn the first sod on the hospital's new location in Borella Road.

But it was not until October 1994 that the hospital opened, with the final version worth $58 million and having 166 beds, compared to an original plan for 202 beds at a cost of $83 million.

The chairman of the hospital's visiting medical officers raised concerns about the adequacy of the proposed facilities in 1992.

Also taking issue at the time was then health union figure and now Albury councillor Darren Cameron.

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He reflected on what unfolded during an address to this week's council meeting.

"We were promised a $76 million, seven-storey hospital ... those were the actual budgeted figures and realistic figures 30 years ago," Cr Cameron said.

He said it was then reduced to a "$32 million, one-and-half storey hospital" with then Health Minister Ron Phillips saying "let's not get caught up in an edifice complex ... it doesn't matter how big it is, it matters how effective it is".

"Well sadly as we've seen over the last 30 years it was never big enough and ... it was never the original intention for it to be so small," Cr Cameron said.

Now rather than a $58 million development, there is a $558 million expansion of the Albury hospital looming.

But while the 1990s debate entangled the Albury Council, base hospital board and NSW government the current proposal has added layers of complexity.

The Borella Road hospital is integral to a cross-border health service which is funded by the NSW and Victorian governments.

The organisation, Albury Wodonga Health, is managed by the Victorian health bureaucracy and it also operates Wodonga's hospital.

With the area's population ballooning since 1994, the need for a new hospital has become more pressing but it is the issue of where fresh operating theatres and wards are built that has divided Albury and Wodonga's councils and its state politicians.

South of the Murray River, Wodonga Council and Benambra MP Bill Tilley say the hospital should be on an entirely new location.

On the north bank, Albury Council is happy to see Borella Road becoming bigger and NSW MP Justin Clancy, who is facing voters on March 25, is lauding the $558 million investment.

For objectors, the argument centres on that amount being inadequate and the state governments short-changing the Border community by not building a greenfields hospital that can meet long-term clinical needs.

In reply, proponents say expanding Albury means patient care and conditions improve sooner and complements existing health services such as the cancer centre.

Watching on has been former Albury Wodonga Health board member and ex-Wodonga mayor Anna Speedie.

"I think Wodonga Council is absolutely doing the right thing putting their community voice forward," Ms Speedie said this week.

"It's a shame in the last two to three years they have not been stronger advocates for this and working with the Albury Wodonga Health board as should have Albury Council."

Ms Speedie blasted Albury councillors who this week adopted a recommendation to reiterate their "strong support" for the $558 million and spurned a plea by their Wodonga counterparts to jointly lobby for a greenfields hub.

"What's most disturbing for me and most disappointing is what Albury Council said ... is so incorrect," she said.

"There are three independent reports that clearly state the best way forward for Albury Wodonga Health is a greenfields site.

"I don't know where they've got their numbers from because if you look at the numbers there's very little difference in and between a greenfields site and a brownfields site.

"The independent reports said it's very, very evident a greenfields site is the way to go.

"We need to keep the governments to account and it needs to be done in a respectful way, but the community deserves a better hospital.

"Build it once, build it right.

"If we keep piecemealing this and keep band-aiding this we end up with a bad result."

Having been rejected by Albury Council, the challenge for Wodonga Council is how it can maintain the fight for its residents who it says oppose the brownfields fix unveiled by premiers Daniel Andrews and Dominic Perrottet last October.

The Victorian government has failed to answer correspondence sent in December and Mr Andrews did not visit Wodonga when he came to the Border for the announcement.

The city's case would receive a fillip if it could marshal its citizenry in protest.

Councillors had made pleas to residents to turnout for this week's Albury Wodonga Health annual meeting, but that largely fell on deaf ears.

The spirit which saw a mass rally on Lincoln Causeway to successfully push for the Border's cancer clinic and the communal campaign for a headspace mental health centre is needed to demonstrate if the greenfields stance has a groundswell of support.

Former Wodonga mayor Kev Poulton has lamented the difficulties of engaging the populace and likened the hospital proposal to the Albury freeway bypass in being short of ideal.

The freeway has since had additions with new on-ramps at Davey Road at Ettamogah and Albury councillors have raised concerns about traffic flows.

The fractious debate over the Hume Highway bypass of Albury and whether it would run through the city or loop around it to the west was the last huge infrastructure project to split the Border.

In that saga, the division was in Albury Council rather than between cities and saw federal and NSW governments split over routes.

The hospital debate has seen the Commonwealth on the periphery.

Federal politician Indi MP Helen Haines has pushed for a federal commitment to the upgraded Albury hospital but the Health Minister Mark Butler has shown little interest.

Ms Speedie believes the Albury-Wodonga Regional Deal, involving the NSW, Victorian and federal governments, was the best chance for a greenfields site.

That ended up fizzling last year into a pact between the outgoing Canberra Coalition government and its NSW counterpart after Victoria failed to support it.

"There was an opportunity and it got missed," Ms Speedie said.

"You lose your strength if you lose your numbers and this was the No.1 item on the Regional Deal and that's where you could have got funding from."

Now question marks loom over the fate of Wodonga hospital.

Will it continue to be used for a health purpose, will it be subdivided and sold off?

Being land in the heart of residential Wodonga it would be highly desirable for housing.

It will not be until the second half of this year that consideration will start to be given to the property's future.

There are just as many, if not more, questions surrounding the Albury hospital upgrade?

What exactly will be built, what was involved in the business case for the work and will the master plan be publicly circulated?

Mr Clancy this week admitted having the master plan could ease community concerns along with the appointment of a project lead by NSW Health.

"The absence of that leads to a vacuum," he said before adding he had made it "firmly known" there will need to be "significant consultation with all of our community, including leaders".

There is also a query over what will happen if the Labor Party wins the NSW election.

Will the project still unfold at the same pace if Albury's MP is not part of the government?

Labor member Cr Cameron said $558 million was "committed and budgeted by both state governments, no small undertaking".

He likened rejecting the upgrade in favour of a greenfields site to wanting a brand new car and not being happy with a secondhand car.

That prompts the question of what type of used vehicle will the revamped hospital end up being.

One that is spacious and runs smoothly or something too small and unsuited to modern needs?

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