Friday, 21 June 2024
Subjects: 2024-25 NSW State Budget, Cootamundra Hospital draft Health Services Plan, Community Building Partnership Program, Henry Lawson Festival.
E&OE…
Rich Spence: As I welcome to the phone this morning, Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke. Good morning, Steph.
Steph Cooke: Good morning, Rich. It's great to be with you and of course, your listeners this morning. I'm coming to you from a chilly Sydney, although it's a lot less chilly I think than it is back home. And yes, we continue our sitting week into Friday this week.
Rich Spence: Yeah, busy days. And of course, earlier this week the State Government released their Budget for the year, and we've got some funding in the Cootamundra electorate, which is good, particularly the Cowra Hospital. Let's start there.
Steph Cooke: That's quite right, Rich. We've heard from the New South Wales Treasurer this week delivering Labor's second budget, and for the Cootamundra electorate I'm summing it up as a bit of a hit-and-miss situation.
So if we go through the hits, they're really important to do. We are seeing $45 million allocated to the Cowra Hospital project for this financial year. That allocation has been announced. It will be rolling out over the next 12 months. And for people's recollection, I think most people know now this is a $110.2 million redevelopment of the Cowra Hospital announced a number of years ago by myself and the then Health Minister Brad Hazzard.
We have fought tooth and nail for this project since 2017. It's had its fair share of setbacks along the way, but I'm very pleased to know that the Labor Government is committed to seeing this project through, and that required a significant capital announcement in this year's Budget, and we have achieved that. So $45 million; those all-important redevelopment works will continue, and then there will need to be another allocation once again this time next year in order to finalise that project. So exciting times in Cowra.
And on top of that, and I welcome it, the New South Wales Government has announced a workforce package for health, and Cowra has been included in that. And that will mean that we have nurses, clinicians to staff that new hospital when it's developed. It's $274 million across the whole state. So we are yet to receive the specific information about what it means for Cowra, but we will continue to press up on that so that we get really good detail on what it means for the people of Cowra.
Rich Spence: Yeah, certainly is great news there. Has the development actually started yet? Has the sod been turned? Is there construction underway yet, or is that still to start?
Steph Cooke: Construction is underway. It's been underway now for a few months. It's had its fair share of challenges, as all major capital building projects do. But for now, these works can continue thanks to this $45 million allocation, and that's all important.
Rich Spence: And not to the scale of the Cowra funding, but the Temora Hospital redevelopment has received funding as well?
Steph Cooke: Yes, this is also a very important project. The Temora Hospital was originally announced by myself and the then Deputy Premier Paul Toole when the Coalition was in government. It was an $80 million redevelopment at the time of announcement, but there was a lot of work still to be done to finalise the Clinical Services Plan and do the master planning process.
And so while that was being undertaken, as we all know, costs have increased and we found ourselves in a situation where $80 million was not going to be enough to deliver that project in full. And what was at risk was the $15 million nurses' quarters, which as we know, in the middle of a housing crisis – it's not just in Sydney, it's in all of our towns and villages as well – ensuring that we have that essential worker accommodation is absolutely critical, particularly when you've got a new hospital and you're likely to see more nurses and other clinicians come into the area.
So what the Government has landed on, and I'm again very grateful, is that they are going to invest an additional $15 million to make sure that those nurses' quarters proceed. So that was what was at risk. It was really on the chopping block. The government has decided to proceed with it, so that will now become at least a $95 million hospital when it's completed.
And for the next 12 months, they're at those really early stages of development. So $5.5 million has been allocated in the Budget this year.
Rich Spence: And of course, a big thank you to yourself Steph, because of your championing and lobbying to get that funding for those projects within the electorate. Some of the other things is the Sheahan Bridge in Gundagai, school crossings supervisors, Aboriginal housing package, social housing, and more.
Steph Cooke: There are some small wins and that's important, no doubt about it. The $2.8 million to continue the planning for the upgrade of the Sheahan Bridge that's in that Gundagai part of the world on the Hume Highway, that's important.
But at some point in time, there's going to be major dollars required for significant upgrades on the Hume throughout our electorate and beyond. And talking to you this morning, and I've no doubt your listeners will have feedback that the Hume Highway itself, as you travel from our electorate up towards Sydney, which is the main road I take, there are patches of that Hume Highway which are in desperate need of upgrades.
And so whilst we certainly welcome the $2.8 million for planning, at some point we're going to need some significant coin to upgrade the highway itself.
Of course, we are seeing that $8.5 million dollars for Aboriginal and social housing in the electorate to take care of some of our most disadvantaged in the community, and that's really, really important.
And we're also seeing some additional money towards teacher housing, which is great as well. So they're the upsides of the budget.
The downside is that there's really a missed opportunity to invest in those major infrastructure projects that we know set us up for the long term. So there's no new money for water projects in our electorate, which is something as you know I'm really passionate about, particularly when it comes to Boorowa.
Rich Spence: For sure.
Steph Cooke: We know that this time last year, the Government scrapped the raising of the wall of Wyangala. So they've scrapped the dam, but there's nothing new being put up. So some missed opportunities there. And of course, the police infrastructure. We so desperately need that new police station in Young, and I will continue my advocacy and continue to fight really hard to see those projects delivered.
Rich Spence: And another disappointment is missed funding for the new preschool that was announced at Boorowa.
Steph Coke: Absolutely. This is probably one of the more concerning aspects of this year's Budget. The Government announced a few months ago that there would be a new preschool for Boorowa, but we have not seen a single dollar allocated to this project for the next financial year. So that means that that project is going to be automatically delayed by 12 months.
So I'm very disappointed with that, and I am certainly seeking further clarification to make sure that that project does proceed. We know that there is a desperate shortage of preschool places in Boorowa. We have a wonderful operator there already, but we need to make sure that that project proceeds.
Rich Spence: Yeah, and good education from an early age is most important for everyone. We talked about the hospitals Cowra and Temora. Not such good news for the Cootamundra hospital. The MLHD Cootamundra draft plan looks to reduce services in Cootamundra, and you can submit your concerns, I guess you could say by, well, the cutoff is Sunday this week.
Steph Cooke: Absolutely. People right across the electorate, I know they are well aware of the challenges that we are facing ahead of us in the town of Cootamundra, and I'd really like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has reached out to me personally and emailed our office and rung our office. As I've been moving around the electorate Rich, I can honestly say it hasn't mattered what community I'm in from Narrandera to Junee, Cootamundra, Temora, Young, people are genuinely worried about what's unfolding in Cootamundra itself for two reasons.
Number one, they know that our surrounding hospitals and Wagga Base Hospital is under enormous pressure. And because they themselves have had some interaction with the healthcare system, they know the pressures that Wagga is under. They also know the pressures that our all important healthcare workers are under in both Temora and Young.
We will continue to fight for this wording in the Health Services Plan to be changed and for there to be a genuine attempt by MLHD to build those services up, to strengthen them and not to scrap them. And to that end, yes, the consultation period on the draft plan ends on Sunday. So if anyone hasn't yet had a chance to let MLHD know what their views are, please do so.
From my perspective, we have used our processes through the Upper House of the Parliament of New South Wales to get hold of as many documents as we can in relation to the decision making process. We believe there needs to be more transparency around how they have come to the conclusion that in the future, maternity, theatre and pathology are not viable in the township of Cootamundra, particularly noting there's been little to no consultation with surrounding towns about how they would pick up the slack.
Rich Spence: And with the submissions closing on Sunday, what's the next steps? What do they do and when will we next hear about what the process is going through?
Steph Cooke: That's a great question, Rich. We simply don't know. We know from MLHD that their consultation ends on Sunday. We have no visibility of dates beyond that. So we do not know when they're going to come back to us with a revised draft plan. As people will know, I've actually called for them to scrap it all together, to go back to the drawing board, to reconsult properly and thoroughly with the communities, with doctors, clinicians, nurses, visiting surgeons, the lot, and also the doctors and surgeons and clinicians in those other towns that will be impacted should these services be cut into the future. That's what we've asked for. We've had no commitment to that.
We did ask for an extension on the consultation period. That has not been confirmed. They said they would, but they put nothing in writing to say what that looks like. We don't know when they're coming back. We know that we have a deadline through the Upper House process, and once that has been reached, we will have more to say on what the next steps are.
Rich Spence: Yeah, it certainly hasn't been best practice in this instance for the consultation process. What about regional roads funding or lack thereof, where does that stand at the moment?
Steph Cooke: We will need to continue fighting hard for additional roads funding. We have seen money flow through as a result of the disaster arrangements that are in place between the State Government and the Federal Government. That is really to restore roads that have been damaged really since 2022 and those terrible floods that we experienced right across New South Wales at that time.
Above and beyond that, we just need to keep our advocacy up. We need to see both the State and the Federal Governments come through with increased roads funding. We know that our councils do the best job they can with the funding that they have from a local perspective, and also the grants that they're given, but we are going to need to see more.
And to that end, I continue to work closely with the New South Wales Regional Roads Minister. We have a very strong and productive relationship, and I continue to impress upon her the size of our electorate, the size of our road network, and the fact that we will need to continue to have State Government support in the future.
Rich Spence: And in some good news or better news perhaps, some grassroots funding for community projects has been released across the electorate.
Steph Cooke: Yes, we've seen the Community Building Partnerships Program, successful applicants have been announced. There's a number of projects, very worthy ones on the list. And over the last couple of weeks, I've had the opportunity to go and visit some of those projects, including for example, down in Coolamon, $5,500 to upgrade their court surfaces at the Coolamon tennis courts.
These are small projects that make a huge impact on small communities. And so there was $300,000 in total. I'm looking forward to getting out to Reids Flat. We've secured some funding for them for a shade awning and a concrete slab for their Bushfire Neighbourhood Safe Place.
These are small projects, but they have a big impact. We've seen Carinya Court in Boorowa receive almost $23,000 to do a complete refurbishment of one of their units for their older residents over there, and I went over and saw them in person. I saw the unit that was going to be upgraded with this funding and what their plans are. There was another unit there that was being upgraded at the same time. This new funding will allow them to get another unit done. These are really good projects and probably some of my favourite.
Rich Spence: Yeah, they certainly are. And when you're not in Sydney with your parliamentary commitments, you certainly do get around to those locations and events in the electorate, including the Henry Lawson Festival in Grenfell, not that long ago.
Steph Cooke: The Henry Lawson Festival on the long weekend in June, I think was one of the best I have attended since becoming the Member for Cootamundra nearly seven years ago. I've been to all of those festivals with the exception of the ones that didn't proceed because of COVID. And look, we had a magnificent day. The weather was just magical. There were so many people that came out. We had a lot of visitors to the region. Locals came out. The stalls were wonderful. The businesses all had their doors open. And there are some new retail businesses that have emerged in the main street of Grenfell in the last six months or so. It was really good to see them thriving. And all up, it was a really, really great day.
Rich Spence: And a lot of events for that not just over the two and three-day weekend, but in the days leading up as well.
Steph Cooke: Oh, absolutely. This is just a wonderful festival. And look, full credit and shout out to the volunteers. They do a magnificent job of running that festival year in, year out. And long may it continue into the future because it is that event on our calendar that everybody knows about locally. It's one of those signature events. And full credit to everyone who works so hard to make it happen.
Rich Spence: And it doesn't happen without the volunteers as you say, Steph. All right, well thank you very much. We're out of time now, but thanks for joining me this morning and we'll catch up again no doubt in a few weeks, hopefully into the studio then.
Steph Cooke: Yep. I'll be back into the studio the next time I catch up with you. And it's lovely to talk to you and I hope all your listeners have a good day and stay rugged up.
Rich Spence: For sure. Thanks a lot Steph. Member for Cootamundra, Steph Cooke.
