The Victorian government has failed to meet a deadline to provide documents, tied to Albury Wodonga Health and the Twin Cities hospital redevelopment, to the state Upper House.
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A motion was passed in the Legislative Council on March 6, 2024, requiring the Labor government to furnish material to the chamber within three weeks of that date.
The items sought included all documents from January 2020 related to the clinical service and master planning for Albury and Wodonga hospitals.
They included point-of-care projections, consultation with clinicians, transport planning and geotechnical assessments.
All documents related to the Albury-Wodonga Regional Deal that involved the federal government and state governments were also sought.
With the three-week deadline not met, Liberal MP Wendy Lovell, who requested the material, and her party colleague Wodonga politician Bill Tilley have expressed dismay.
"The culture of this government blatantly disregards our democratic institution, the Parliament, and by extension, all Victorians," Ms Lovell said.
Mr Tilley added: "They talk about transparency and inclusion, but they refuse to show us the paperwork.
"If the decision to redevelop the Albury site was based on merit, they wouldn't have spent a million dollars on another consultancy, they wouldn't have needed to bury the original master plan that recommended a greenfield build.
"The papers released in the NSW Parliament showed the 2021 consultation was a charade, the choice of the Albury site - with all its pitfalls, predetermined by bureaucrats.
"If these papers ever see the light of day, they'll confirm this was a lazy decision based on politics rather than the medical needs of 300,000 people."
The failure to provide the material contrasts sharply with the NSW Labor government which has met two three-week deadlines set after Albury-based Greens Upper House MP Amanda Cohn requested, via Parliament, documents related to the hospital development.
The Victorian government declined to comment directly on the deadline being unmet when The Border Mail contacted the office of Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas.
Instead, a representative suggested the Liberal Party was on a frolic and repeated the government's belief the Albury hospital upgrade is adequate for patient needs.
"While the Liberals are playing politics, we are getting on and delivering one of Australia's most significant investments ever in regional health infrastructure - in partnership with NSW and the community," a spokesman said.
"The new $558 million clinical services building and upgrades at the Albury campus will deliver better care - with more beds, new operating theatres, expanded outpatient and specialist treatment spaces, a new ICU, relocated maternity and newborn services, a new children's inpatient unit and a new adult acute mental health inpatient unit."
During her visit to open Albury hospital's emergency department on Thursday, April 4, Ms Thomas spruiked the planned new clinical services tower at the campus and said "we're sitting down and really nutting out exactly what will be delivered".
Albury Wodonga Health chief executive Bill Appleby indicated the $558 million budget cap was a prompt for writing a letter in December to Ms Thomas and her NSW counterpart Ryan Park expressing concerns about the hospital project.
"Clearly there's pressure on the budget, the 558, and we were reconciling what was announced by our two premiers back in October '22 and what can be delivered reasonably," Mr Appleby said.
"We again just wanted to alert both ministers to the fact not all those announcements were going to be necessarily realised, but we're working through, as you heard the minister say today ... what is needing to be prioritised to ensure that we actually consolidate all acute services on this site within the first stage."
