00:00You've been greeted today by some protests in relation to the hospital issue, which is a big issue down here in relation to the decision to upgrade the Albury hospital and people wanting a Greenfield hospital. What's your message to those protesters, including one that sort of had a sign they're saying that you've betrayed the community with the decision?
00:18Yeah, look, I mean, everyone's got a right to protest and I wouldn't dismiss their concerns without considering them. But we have considered it and I want to make it clear there's no, I mean, we went to the election campaign accepting the commitment that the previous government had made about the location of the hospital. So in terms of a betrayal, I think that that'd be, I think a reasonable person would say that's a bit rough. It's not as if we'd promised it in a different location and backtracked.
00:47We went to the election saying that we thought that the previous government's decision about a location was sound. We wanted to allocate the money and we've done just that. And I think at this point, we're going to get on with it. Build the hospital. It's a fast growing community. It's on the border. We need new digs. We need a new hospital for the health needs of this community.
01:11And I'm just concerned about an extensive delay while we locate a site and go through all the planning and rigmarole associated with it would mean that we're waiting too long.
01:21The argument for those that want the Greenfield site is that what's being proposed is going to be inadequate and sort of out of date by the time it's finished in terms of meeting the needs of the community. What's your response to that?
01:33Well, I mean, I'm hoping that some of the people involved in the protest might be reasonable about it and see the finished product before they condemn it as not fit for purpose or not reasonable.
01:48Most projects that we are undertaking when it comes to new builds are on brownfield sites, so existing sites. There's one, two blocks from where I live at Coggera and they're using the existing footprint.
02:02It's a massive project similar to this one. It's about half a billion dollars. It's huge, but we're using the airspace available on the existing footprint to put the services and infrastructure that you need on the site.
02:16And we're proposing something similar for Albury. We already own the land. We can use it within its current footprint and we can put the money, the investment that's required to run and build a world-class hospital.
02:28I was just going to say, some of it's sort of already been siphoned off in terms of using for parking and so on as part of the development. Is there any prospect of extra money being put in to it to top up money that isn't going to the building side of it now?
02:43Well, I mean, these budgets have been allocated. It's, as I said, $500 million jointly split between the Commonwealth, the state and the Victorian government.
02:55But we're open to federal dollars going into a big project like this.
02:59And I just make the point that I think this government's shown, both with this project and other ones in regional New South Wales, that if an urgent need is required,
03:09or even if the demographics and geography of the site change in a short space of time, we're prepared to allocate more money.
03:17I don't want to offer false promises, though. This is a significant amount of money that we've put aside and we want to get the concrete poured and the buildings built as soon as possible.
03:28Just in relation to, this is your first trip to the Albury as Premier and as Labour leader.
03:34Yeah.
03:35What took you so long to get down here when you've sort of visited other parts of the state beforehand?
03:40Yeah, look, I apologise for that. I love this part of New South Wales. It's not the first time I've been here.
03:46I've been here before and the Riverina is a beautiful part of the state.
03:50It's an opportunity for me to speak to the mayor, the councils, the local MP about what the challenges and the opportunities are.
03:59And we've got a long list of towns that I've got to get to.
04:04You'd think with Albury being A, it should have been at the top.
04:07But I'm here now and I want to hear how we can help and how we can be a government that can respond to this community.
04:14Look, I'm not an idiot here. I appreciate this is not so much a political visit.
04:21The chances of us pulling off a victory in Albury are very, very long.
04:25But I also recognise that whether you voted Labour or for another political party, you need to speak and hear from your Premier and hear from the government.
04:33And that's why I'm here.
04:34I just make the point that we pretty much have stuck to it for the last two and a half years.
04:40If Parliament's not sitting, we'll go to a regional community.
04:45And we're stuck to that pretty religiously.
04:47And obviously it's a cross-border area here with your colleague Jacinda Allen in Parliament in Victoria as the leader.
04:52Have you had much discussion with her about cross-border issues, including the hospital, which obviously you're jointly involved in?
05:00Look, in all honesty, no.
05:02But when the issues come up, we've got each other's phone number and we do speak about a whole range of issues.
05:08Largely, our discussions have been about how the two states can work together to get a better share of funding from the Commonwealth.
05:15They've got deeper pockets than we've got and they've got a responsibility to step in, particularly in cross-border issues.
05:24I think we've got about $20 million from the Commonwealth Government for a half a billion dollar hospital build.
05:31So, you know, if you look at other federal governments around the world, they have stepped in for social infrastructure where it's important.
05:42And this is a massive detour, but bear with me.
05:45I was looking at the U.S. government shutdown.
05:49And one of the projects that's been held up is money from the federal government in the U.S. for two major public transport projects in New York.
05:59And I thought, well, that's interesting because we virtually get $0 from the Commonwealth for major new public transport projects.
06:06We're jointly funding the metro to the second airport, but the aviation and the second airport to federal government responsibility.
06:14So that's what we talked to Jacinta Allen about.
06:17We'd love to see more federal dollars flow.
06:18So on that federal government side, the community sort of appealed to Anthony Albanese.
06:22And when he was down in Modonga, he was given a petition from the community.
06:26Is that something that you'd speak to the Prime Minister about, the possibility of more money from the Commonwealth for the hospital, even as it is at the moment, which people are arguing hasn't got enough money?
06:37Yeah.
06:37Well, look, the short answer is yes.
06:41As I said, I think it's $20 million from the Feds for a half a billion dollar bill.
06:46They've got deeper pockets.
06:47There's real needs down here.
06:48And if you look at the distribution of the GST, the Federal Health Agreement, social infrastructure, New South Wales gets far less per capita than other states.
06:58And there's got to be a fairer rendering.
07:01You said you were about to meet with council on the subject of housing.
07:04One of the things that the council has been pushing for is some state government support for infrastructure for the massive growth that's happening in Faguna.
07:13Is there anything you can share?
07:15Is the government looking at helping with that?
07:18Well, I don't have an announcement today, but obviously I want to hear them out.
07:22And I'll take that meeting and see what they have to say.
07:25Last one.
07:28I could take a couple more if we've got any.
07:31At the Bush Summit in Wagga, you chatted to people with placards.
07:40Will you be having a chat to the folks out the front today?
07:42Look, I appreciate their concern.
07:45I genuinely do.
07:46But I've got a tight timetable today.
07:48And I suspect, notwithstanding their heartfelt opposition to the government's plan, I don't have good news for them.
07:56And one of the things that I do try and do as Premier and my government tries to do is be really straight with people.
08:03We need to get on with the hospital project.
08:07We need it to be built on its current site.
08:09We're going to do a good job here.
08:10We're putting a significant amount of money into this rebuild.
08:14It'll be a hospital that the community is proud of and one that we can virtually start straight away with.
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