New hospital an emergency case

MP says Tweed won’t be able to cope without $534m facility

TWEED MP Geoff Provest has warned the local health service won’t be able to cope with the area’s booming population if a new $534 million hospital is not built within the next four years.

Locals have objected to the proposed site of the new hospital on a Cudgen potato farm, risking a major delay to construction of the badly needed new facility.

An Expressions of Interest process into the location of the hospital has been reopened for six weeks as a result of the protests, allowing members of the public to propose alternative sites.

“I have a window of four years to build a new hospital and if I don’t, the Tweed Hospital won’t be able to handle the amount of sick people in our region,” Mr Provest said.

A community meeting on Thursday night heard angry objections to the hospital, with speakers raising concerns about traffic and noise.

However Kingscliff Chamber of Commerce and Kingscliff Planning Reference Panel member, LJ Hooker principal Paul McMahon, said the horse had bolted on Kingscliff remaining a small coastal town.

“I’m concerned because the growth is happening regardless of the hospital, it has been happening for a long time,” he said.

THE proposed site would not be flooded during a severe weather event. This a major benefit because Tweed has a lot of low-lying areas.

It is ideally situated to service the people south of the Tweed River during a weather event while people north of the Tweed could attend a Gold Coast Hospital.

The potato farm is large enough to have ample space for future developments as the community grows in size.

“We need to be careful we don’t take away the opportunity of building a new hospital by carrying on for too long until the money is moved to another project.”

Federal Labor Member for Richmond Justine Elliot yesterday called for an independent external auditor to be appointed to examine the documentation and decision-processes

THE proposed site would take up valuable State Significant Agricultural Land needed for future food production and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The construction of a hospital so close to Kingscliff would put added strain on the already overstretched Kingscliff public infrastructure.

The New South Wales Government’s decision was made behind closed doors and without adequate public consultation. relating to the LNP Government’s selection of the site.

She said the procurement process had been carried out in a “cloak of secrecy”.

“(Geoff Provest) and the Sydney-based Berejiklian Government have just dropped a decision on the community and they now ignore their concerns,” she said.

“The community is also very concerned about backdoor means to encourage overdevelopment.”

Her comments were slammed by New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard, who suggested her motive was to help husband Craig Elliot’s bid in the NSW state election in March next year after he announced his Labor candidacy on Monday.

“She should be supportive of this hospital not being destructive, she owes that to local residents,” he said.

Mr Hazzard said if a better site was not found it six weeks he would most likely proceed on the sweet potato farm.