WHERE’S THE MONEY? Chamber wants action on $263.8M upgrade

Grafton Base Hospital’s $263.8 million upgrade a NSW Government priority but is yet to begin

Chris Gulaptis speaks to the crowd at Grafton Base Hospital.

THE Grafton Chamber of Commerce Grafton Base Hospital Sub-Committee is asking for the NSW Government to show them the money for the hospital's upgrade.

The Northern NSW Local Health District Board had made the Grafton Base Hospital's $263.8 million redevelopment upgrade its top priority within the district last year, and Clarence MP Chris Gulaptis pushed the government hard on the project.

It looked have been pushed back in the queue when it was not costed in the 2019-20 State Budget last June but last year Mr Gulaptis reassured the electorate the project was still high priority.

Grafton Chamber of Commerce's hospital sub-committee spokesman, Ron Bell says while there had been a plenty of talk that the redevelopment will go ahead, there was currently very little, or no planning being done by NSW Health and said the NSW Government needed to allocate at least $20 million immediately for detailed planning of the project.

"The redevelopment was given the green light by the Health Services Plan in 2016 which was long before the new Clarence Correctional facility, Australia's biggest jail, was even on the drawing board," he said.

"This project alone, which is due to open shortly, will bring 1700 prisoners and more than 600 staff to the Clarence Valley.

"The Chamber Sub-Committee sees this local population increase equal to a new small town.

"The State Government is simply not providing the necessary infrastructure to keep up with what will be an increased demand on the services provided at our local hospital. The community should have real concerns about the welfare of the staff working at the Grafton Base Hospital with the expected increase of their workload."

Mr Bell said the Chamber's Sub-Committee is seeking action, rather than more words from the State Member and the Premier.

"The Chamber has written to the Mr Gulaptis, the Premier and Health Minister Brad Hazzard seeking the immediate allocation of the necessary funding for planning work on the project to commence," he said.

"To date there has been no response."

Mr Bell said this action to allocate funding for the project would be in line with last year's election promise and budget commitment by the coalition government and the Premier's most recent comments on radio.

In an interview with Richie Williamson on 2GF in May this year, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the $263 million rebuild of Grafton Base Hospital was a promise that must be kept.

"We promised to keep all our election commitments," Ms Berejiklian said.

"We're definitely look at opportunities where we can bring forward projects, especially in health.

"If we've said we're upgrading and building Grafton Base Hospital that's definitely what we'll be doing."

Mr Gulaptis said the NSW Government's budget had been put back due to the coronavirus but expected to see some planning money in this current budget.

"The Premier has made an announcement recently that all election commitments would be met and I expect that commitment to rebuild Grafton Base Hospital would commence in this term of government, and that means shovels in the ground," he said.

"I've written to the Deputy Premier (John Barilaro) and circulated the correspondence to the Premier as well to make sure that commitment is met and it's more than just planning money in this term of government, that it's actual commencement on the ground. That's what I expect to see happen in this term of government."

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