There is no word from the Tasmanian Government on when building work at the Royal Hobart Hospital will resume.
Federal politicians are demanding a clear commitment to see the full project through.
The Health Minister Michael Ferguson will only say he is seeking urgent advice on the matter.
Plans to upgrade Tasmania’s major public hospital have been in the works for more than a decade.
Since the previous Federal Labor Government committed $340 million to the project four years ago, little visible work has been done.
The redevelopment is at least two years behind schedule, for which the state government blames its Labor predecessor.
It has now called a temporary halt to demolition and building work that was slated to start next week.
The Independent member for Denison Andrew Wilkie says they need to be back at work soon.
“They need to deliver this in full, because this is the hospital we need,” he said.
In February an Auditor-General’s report revealed Labor had already spent the federal money committed for the hospital to meet other costs.
Unions claim the state government is now laying the groundwork to announce it’s scaling the project down.
“The government is slowly but surely letting the community down, that ultimately they’re going to pull the pin on this redevelopment,” Tim Jacobson from the Health Services Union said.
“The new health minister has still not given an unambiguous confirmation that the rebuild is going ahead,” Andrew Wilkie added.
The Health Minister Michael Ferguson has knocked back our requests for interviews this week.
In his latest statement, he says the halt on works at the hospital is only temporary.
He says the government’s committed to providing the health services Tasmania needs, but will not commit to the full hospital redevelopment.
Andrew Wilkie is giving the government the benefit of the doubt, for now.
“But I tell you what, I’ll only give them a little bit of extra time because it is much too important to dawdle as has been the case for the last two years,” he said.
He says the project becomes even more expensive with each day of delays.
Source: 7 News