6 hours Ago By Anthony Bunn
Snowy Valleys Council has formally supported a new hospital for Albury-Wodonga but its mayor says that should not be interpreted as backing a greenfields site. or signup to continue reading The council was originally given a recommendation by its acting general manager Jessica Quilty that it "advise the greenfield hospital advocacy group ( that Snowy Valleys Council supports the re-development of the Albury hospital on the existing 'brownfield' site". But at a meeting on Thursday, February 20, councillor James Hayes won unanimous support when he replaced that wording with a call for the council to support a new hospital for the Albury-Wodonga area.
speaking to on Monday, February 24, said her reading of the outcome of the meeting was that "we haven't got a stand on whether it should be greenfields or brownfields" when it came to a new Albury-Wodonga hospital. "That was the interpretation I got from the meeting I presided over," Cr Ham said. But Cr Hayes said to his mind he was supporting a greenfields development when he put forward his change to the original recommendation.
"I think a new hospital is something that is critical for our community," Cr Hayes said, noting there was a medical community of interest across southern areas of the council towards Albury-Wodonga. "We need good mid-21 century care and I think the best way to do that personally, and this is my personal view not the council view, is with a greenfields site that gives us the opportunity to start afresh." Former paramedic and councillor John Larter said he felt "I was supporting a greenfields site, whether that be in Albury or Wodonga it doesn't really matter, I'm not getting into that debate".
He characterised Cr Ham's viewpoint as "having a bet each way" and suggested the former Liberal election candidate was being influenced by fellow party member, Albury MP Justin Clancy. "She's siding with Justin Clancy's view that they should be rebuilding the Albury base hospital," Cr Larter said. "She is still an active Liberal Party member and she is not going to go against him.
" Cr Ham rejected that characterisation. "I am a member of the Liberal Party but I haven't really discussed this with Justin at all," she said. "He was up at Tumbafest and he didn't even mention it.
"In our council I'm not a Liberal, I'm a mayor." Cr Larter cited former Tumut mayor and retired surgeon Geoff Pritchard and refurbishing the existing Wagga hospital, in his comments to the council meeting. "Councillor Geoff Pritchard in relation to this said that these things should always be built on a greenfields site for numerous reasons," he said.
"I mean we've ended up with a situation in Wagga which wasn't probably the ideal situation ...
maybe the same mistakes shouldn't be repeated in Albury." DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. WEEKDAYS Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation.
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