'They've had a fair bit of turmoil recently': Albury mayor comments on shire's hospital indecision

THE "turmoil" surrounding the has been linked to the shire's fence-sitting on Albury-Wodonga hospital plans. or signup to continue reading Albury mayor Kevin Mack made the connection when asked about Greater Hume council . He was speaking after a joint meeting of mayors and deputy mayors on Thursday March 20 to discuss plans for an Albury hospital rally and lobbying of NSW Health Minister Ryan Park and his federal counterpart Mark Butler.

"They've had a fair bit of turmoil recently with the loss of their GM, it's been an ongoing issue since they were elected in October," Cr Mack said, referring to the premature exit of Evelyn Arnold. "I just can't see that with all that happening that they have had clear sight of this particular issue. "I think we need to push harder back and say 'listen guys what can we do to support you', and what we need to provide is information, quality information, easily understood and to the point.



" Greater Hume mayor Lea Parker conceded the council had other concerns, but not necessarily Ms Arnold's resignation. "We've been behind with our IPNR (Integrated Planning and Reporting) that we have to do after an election, which wasn't started when it should have been started," Cr Parker said. "We've been behind the eight-ball in terms of community consultation and we needed to put some hard yards in to get up to speed.

" Cr Mack said noted Greater Hume has not been alone in wavering, describing the previously elected Albury Council as "the king and queens of fence-sitting". "Unfortunately two-and-a-half years of lack of strong Albury advocacy has caused this misunderstanding and we'll own that but at the end of the day we need to revisit that and we need to give them the right information they need to make the right decision, whatever that may be, it's up to them," he said. Indigo Shire mayor Sophie Price said, as a fellow satellite Twin Cities councillor, she was willing to speak to Greater Hume councillors and provide information to assist.

"I'd encourage them to make contact with us, I'll certainly be reaching out to some of those councillors to discuss any of the concerns that they may have, that we might have already ventilated at Indigo because we came to a really clear decision that the only option for Indigo as a smaller neighbouring shire, in a similar position to Greater Hume, was to support a new single-site hospital," Cr Price said. Cr Parker said she would be open to briefings with other councillors, but she also noted the shire's position between Albury and Wagga, which is home to Murrumbidgee Health which administers health services in Greater Hume, was a point of difference. "We've got a foot in both doors, in terms of where our situation is, in terms of Murrumbidgee Health and Albury Wodonga Health," she said.

"We're not trying to divide, that's for sure. "We're trying to get all the information so that we can make an informed decision." Cr Parker hopes the matter will be revisited at Greater Hume's next meeting on April 23 in the wake of a briefing from NSW Health Infrastructure.

Journalist at The Border Mail.You can contact me at madilyn.mckinley@austcommunitymedia.

com.au. Journalist at The Border Mail.

You can contact me at [email protected].

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