WHAT’S the deal with the local Liberal politicians going cold on a new hospital? Mayor Geoff Kettle and State Member Pru Goward want to consign Goulburn to second best with their lightweight comments.
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We didn’t vote them in to placate their political colleagues in Macquarie Street or subscribe meekly to health bureaucrats.
They were elected because we thought they would take up the fight on the community’s behalf.
That means going for broke on any significant infrastructure project regardless of the political climate or government bottom line.
Retired surgeon Jarvis Hayman and obstetrician Sujon Purkayastha believe a new hospital, preferably on a new site, is long overdue.
They have spoken out, fed up with the deteriorating state of the facility and the unwillingness of health bureaucrats to think – and invest – long term.
They tell us there are many other senior local health professionals who agree but are afraid to speak out because of possible negative consequences.
These two highly respected medicos aren’t Johnny-come-lately mavericks.
They’ve spent most of their professional careers in Goulburn. They know every square inch of that hospital.
If they alone can’t convince Cr Kettle and Ms Goward to agitate more, then the Liberal pair obviously know better.
Ms Goward herself admits that Goulburn keeps getting “bumped down the list” when it came to getting a new hospital.
Of course that’s going to happen when the constant message from local politicians to the state government is that a patchedup existing facility will do for now.
The triumvirate of local Liberal representatives – Cr Kettle, Ms Goward and Member for Hume Angus Taylor – should convene a private meeting involving Goulburn’s senior medical fraternity to garner a more accurate appraisal.
