Will Hodgman has again failed to inform Tasmanians when the Royal Hobart Hospital redevelopment will be completed and has avoidedanswering whether penalties have been applied for the redevelopment running behind schedule
The contracted date for the RHH redevelopment completion was December 2018. This was later revised to August 2019, before a further delay to October 2019. With the October deadline having passed, nobody seems to be able to answer when the redevelopment will actually be completed.
Shadow Minister for Health, Sarah Lovell, said the redevelopment has been continuously plagued with problems due to poor management by the Hodgman Liberal Government.
"It is disgraceful that we are now almost in December and the Hodgman Government still can't give a date for when the hospital will be finished," Ms Lovell said.
"Today in parliament Will Hodgman failed to even answer basic questions regarding the amount of damages that will be paid by contractors as a result of the development running even further behind its contracted practical completion date.
"Sarah Courtney has continued to champion her plan to have 44 beds open in February 2020 but it is clear from Will Hodgman's remarks in parliament today that the Government is nowhere close to reaching that target.
"The Premier is yet to confirm how many of the 44 new beds will be additional to current capacity of the hospital - is this because he is unsure, or is it because he knows it's nowhere near what they have been leading Tasmanians to believe?
"Already the Hodgman Government's mismanagement and chronic underfunding has led to chaos and avoidable deaths.
"Any further delays to the RHH redevelopment will only put more lives at risk and see the state's health system to fall deeper into crisis.
"The Government must come clean about when Tasmanians can expect the RHH to be completed.
"Labor will continue to call for transparency around the timeline for the RHH redevelopment and whether any penalties for the latest delays have been issued."
Sarah Lovell MLC
Shadow Health Minister
