As State Cabinet considers whether or not it will resume the redevelopment of Royal Hobart Hospital, momentum is growing for a new hospital to be built near Hobart’s Cenotaph.
The Government, Opposition and Hobart City Council have all been briefed on an unsolicited proposal by Melbourne-based project management company SolutionsWon.
The firm has proposed a $2.4 billion complex comprised of a hospital, a hotel and a war museum be built at Hobart’s regatta ground.
Rebuilding the Royal at its current site on Liverpool Street in Hobart’s CBD is estimated to cost $585 million, although the project has been plagued with cost overruns.
This week Cabinet will weigh up the greenfield plan against the rebuild.
Premier Will Hodgman was not prepared to shed light on his preference just yet.
“It’s our intention to, at the earliest opportunity, inform Tasmanians of our decision, which will be very much focussing on the long-term interests of our health system and what Tasmanians can afford,” he said.
Labor accused of ‘blowing in the breeze’
After spending months calling for the Government to back the hospital’s redevelopment, Labor shifted position on Monday.
The party’s health spokeswoman Rebecca White said she liked the new proposal.
“However, what we need to understand is whether it stacks up financially,” she said.
The Government accused Labor of playing politics and “blowing in the breeze”.
Ms White’s former Cabinet colleague, Greens MP Cassy O’Connor, suggested Labor and the Greens made mistakes on the Royal redevelopment.
“Some wrong decisions have been made,” she told the ABC.
“The building, as we know, is full of asbestos. There are some highly vulnerable patients there and decanting them is a major, major logistical problem.”
She said the Greens would support the Government opting for the Cenotaph site, even if it proved more expensive.
Wilkie keeping an open mind
Meanwhile, the man instrumental in securing Federal funding for the Liverpool Street redevelopment was not backing one proposal over the other.
In 2010, Independent Federal MP Andrew Wilkie passed up an offer by then opposition leader Tony Abbott to help fund a greenfield proposal.
Mr Wilkie has concerns about the current Cenotaph plan but is not ruling out supporting it just yet.
“There are a lot of questions that haven’t been answered,” he told the ABC.
“More than $100 million has already been spent on the existing site.
“How much additional money would need to be spent on the current site to make it fit for its next purpose if we were to build a new hospital elsewhere?”
Lord Mayor lauds ‘visionary’ Cenotaph plan
Hobart Lord Mayor Sue Hickey said council had not yet adopted a formal position.
Alderman Hickey said her personal preference was to build an entirely new hospital.
“I really like the idea of something starting from scratch so we’re not throwing good money after bad,” she said.
“I think it’s a sensational proposal – it’s certainly one out of the box.”
While the cost of the Cenotaph proposal is $2.4 billion, the proponent argued over 30 or 40 years it would actually prove more cost-effective that rebuilding the Royal at its present site.
The Australian Medical Association, the Nursing and Midwifery Federation and the health union all support the Cenotaph plan.
The Royal Hobart Hospital is Tasmania’s largest public hospital and deciding its fate will be the Government’s biggest infrastructure decision.
Health Minister Michael Ferguson said after the Cabinet meeting the Government would again consult with the key stakeholders and hoped to announce its decision by week’s end.