A Victorian government push to have 14,000 new homes built in Wodonga has been contrasted with the state's unwillingness to bankroll a new Border hospital to support a growing population.
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Wodonga councillor Libby Hall made the link as she and her colleagues discussed continued advocacy for a new hospital, at the council meeting on Monday, June 17.
The former deputy mayor noted the state government on Sunday, June 16, via Premier Jacinta Allan and Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny, outlined a target of 33,300 new homes in Wodonga in 2051 up from 18,900 in 2023.
"Ironically here we are as a council advocating for a new single-site hospital....that....will significantly increase beds and the health service for our region going forward, but we are being largely overlooked and ignored," Cr Hall said.
"How can you even look at even increasing our population without the desperately needed infrastructure that needs to go with a population of such increase?
"In my opinion it's short-sighted and could be seen to be disrespectful to our community in announcing these houses but without giving us the benefit of putting more money in or looking at our concerns over our health issues."
Mayor Ron Mildren expanded further on his recent meeting, alongside council chief executive Matt Hyde, with Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas.
He said he encouraged Ms Thomas to suspend the planned redevelopment of Albury hospital to allow costs to be examined, including those not budgeted for originally such as roadworks surrounding the Borella Road site.
"We tried to offer the opportunity for the minister to suspend the project and the minister declined that invitation and made it quite clear the government is going to deliver what they're proceeding with, the only thing is we don't know what that is yet," Cr Mildren said referencing uncertainty over services in a planned new building.
The mayor said he canvassed locations for a new hospital in Albury-Wodonga with Ms Thomas.
"We spoke to the minister about possible alternative sites to the existing site and we made it very clear there is at least one reasonable site in NSW and at least one reasonable site in Victoria," Cr Mildren said.
"We put it to the minister that the site on Bandiana Link is a very good site but we also said we don't necessarily see it as a problem if the hospital is located in NSW, so long as site selection is done and based on appropriate and honest merit."
Cr Mildren said Wodonga Council would not give up its fight for a new hospital lightly and deputy mayor Danny Chamberlain expressed a similar sentiment.
"We're not going to back off, we can't afford to, the people of this town and the people of this region need us to keep pushing for them," Cr Chamberlain said.
Referencing Wodonga Council's desire to tap into army medical training at Bandiana for a new Albury-Wodonga hospital, councillor Olga Quilty lamented a potential loss.
"Foregoing the opportunity of a greenfields site hospital here somewhere is also foregoing the opportunity for the whole country with the Bandiana location training of military medics, there are a lot of opportunities that exist here not just for us locals but for people from all over the state and NSW and the country at large," Cr Quilty said.
Three of the seven councillors were absent from Monday's meeting, with Kev Poulton and Graeme Simpfendorfer on leave and Danny Lowe ill.
