Queensland election: New hospital just dirt in Labor’s riskiest seat of Bundaberg

Labor MP Tom Smith won Queensland’s most marginal electorate, Bundaberg, by just nine votes in 2020, but he insists locals don’t mind that the site of the new hospital is just dirt, four years after the project was announced.

Queensland Premier Steven Miles, second right, with Health Minister Shannon Fentiman, right, and local MP Tom Smith, third right, at the promised new hospital construction site in Bundaberg. Picture Adam Head

Labor MP Tom Smith won Queensland’s most marginal electorate, Bundaberg, by just nine votes in 2020, but he insists that locals don’t mind that the site of the new hospital is just dirt, four years after the project was first ­announced.

Ahead of the 2020 election campaign, then premier Annastacia Palaszczuk trumpeted the location for the new hospital in the Wide Bay regional city, and candidate Mr Smith boasted that the investment showed the Labor government’s “commitment to building hospitals”.

Four years later, Premier Steven Miles, Health Minister Shannon Fentiman and Mr Smith visited the 60ha site, which is bare apart from big diggers and building machinery. There is no sign of the promised $1.2bn hospital, forecast to deliver 121 new beds to the ultra-marginal electorate, but Labor still believes it will open in 2027, as planned.

Asked whether he’d have a better chance of hanging on to Bundaberg, which he holds on just 0.01 per cent, if the hospital was already built, Mr Smith said locals were impressed with the “wonderful work” that had already been done. “We’ve seen 23ha cleared. We’ve seen mulch being given to community organisations and local businesses, and topsoil offered out to local businesses as well,” he said.

Mr Smith said a man had bought him a beer in the pub on Sunday night because he owned one of the businesses that had taken the topsoil.

Mr Miles andMr Smith visit the River Cruz Cafe in Bundaberg where they met six-month-old Eden Armatage. Picture: Adam Head

In this year’s budget, there was just $68m allocated to building the new Bundaberg hospital in the 2024-25 financial year. There are no published figures declaring how much will be spent annually after that to have the hospital open in three years.

Ms Fentiman said federal government approval was needed before earthworks began, but construction would ramp up in the next month. “Earthworks is a big part of construction, and we’re getting on with the job of making sure this is open in 2027,” she said.

Mr Smith said there needed to be planning to ensure critical flora and fauna were protected, as well as sites significant to Aboriginal traditional owners, including a scar tree and birthing tree.

The Liberal National Party’s candidate for Bundaberg, Bree Watson, is the chief executive of the Bundaberg Fruit and Vegetable Growers, and considered a strong chance to win the marginal seat. Her national profile has rapidly expanded in recent years as she advocated for farmers during rolling crises befalling Paradise Dam, opened by the Beattie Labor government in 2006.

Earlier this year, the Miles government conceded the dam would have to be entirely rebuilt after a catastrophic failure of the concrete used to build the water storage, which irrigates one of Australia’s most productive food bowls.

Ms Watson declined to speak to The Australian about the new Bundaberg hospital progress and Paradise Dam, after Mr Miles could not say on Monday when a replacement dam would be built and how much it would cost.

He said the government had explored chasing the original builders for compensation, but “there’s no entities continuing to be in existence who could be held to account for that negligence”.

A government spokesman said SunWater was working on a business case to determine “the exact scope, cost and timeline for a rebuild of Paradise Dam”.