Hospital key issue: Elliot
THE NSW election was in effect a referendum on the location of the contentious new Tweed Valley Hospital, defeated Labor candidate for Tweed Craig Elliot said.
“The people have spoken – and they have picked the Cudgen Plateau,” he said.
Mr Elliot conceeded defeat yesterday morning.
He congratulated Nationals MP Geoff Provest, who won his fourth term and ensured the $534 million hospital will bot be moved to Kings Forest.
Labor hoped to build the hospital on the proposed location of a Leda housing development while Greens candidate Bill Fenelon spruiked a massive overhaul of the existing Tweed Hospital.
But the Nationals win means a portion of State Significant Farmland will be forfeited for the nine-storey building at the plateau.
In good spirits, Mr Elliot gave his “sincere thanks to everyone” after a marathon year of campaigning.
He did not rule out putting his hand up for an election again.
“It’s no secret the election here in Tweed was a referendum on where the new hospital will be sited,” he said.