The Eurobodalla community will soon benefit from significantly expanded health services with the site now acquired for the new, state-of-the-art $260 million Eurobodalla Regional Hospital.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard announced that the NSW Government has completed acquisition of the land - under the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991 - at Braemar Drive, Moruya, paving the way for the Level 4 facility to get underway.
"The Batemans Bay, Moruya and Narooma communities can celebrate today as the start of a new era in the delivery of significantly enhanced and expanded health services," Mr Hazzard said.
"I want to pay tribute to the former Member for Bega, Andrew Constance, who worked tirelessly with the NSW Government to secure this magnificent site in Moruya."
"The acquisition confirms the truth of what the Liberal National Government has been telling the community would happen, whilst NSW Labor has been spreading misinformation and undermining community confidence in what has been the entirely appropriate process for acquiring the land."
"The Labor Party deliberately asserted that the NSW Government wasn't serious about acquiring the site when in fact the Government was in the middle of delicate and difficult negotiations to ultimately resume the land."
"The Labor Leader said 'the Government's handling of the Eurobodalla Hospital has been shameful. We've had to wait years and years…' (12 February 2022). The truth is that NSW Labor would never have built the Eurobodalla Hospital, just as it never built the South East Regional Hospital, or any other hospitals on the NSW South Coast.
"Furthermore, the announcement that the Eurobodalla Hospital would be built was only made in May 2020 by the Liberal National Government. The necessary processes required under the legislation have been followed and the land now resumed as the owner and the Government could not agree on a price.
"There has not been one iota of input other than mistruths and misinformation from NSW Labor to the process of acquiring the land or delivering this health service."
"The master planning for the new Level 4 hospital was announced in December 2021 and work is now proceeding on final planning approvals and thereafter the building contracts will be entered into.
"Again, NSW Labor will have nothing to do with the work that is proceeding and it should never be forgotten that NSW Labor has failed on every promise it has ever made to the South Coast region for building new hospitals or for keeping departments in hospitals open.
"Even the Labor candidate at the recent by-election acknowledged that when he moved to the South Coast in 2003 'there was a crisis of maternity services' which were in fact closed by the former Labor Government."
The site for the new Eurobodalla Regional Hospital was selected following careful consideration of key criteria such as road access and ensuring linkage to the future bypass, avoiding flood and bushfires zones, and proximity to the airport.
The acquisition process was completed in accordance with the procedures and timelines of the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991.
"Despite the Labor Party's self-serving scare campaign, the NSW Government and Health Infrastructure were always committed to supporting the affected landowner of the site, while also abiding by the legislative safeguards put in place for these types of land acquisitions," Mr Hazzard said.
"Unlike Labor's poor effort, the Liberal National Government has consistently delivered a record pipeline of infrastructure projects in the regions since being elected in 2011.
"While the previous Labor Government left a legacy of more than 2,000 bed closures across the state and closed 37 maternity units in the regions, the Liberals and Nationals have committed $260 million for a new Eurobodalla Regional Hospital, $20 million for a new Batemans Bay HealthOne, $15 million for modern, sustainable accommodation for health workers, and delivered the $197 million South East Regional Hospital, for this part of Southern NSW alone."
Since 2011, the NSW Liberals & Nationals Government has invested over $13 billion in health infrastructure across NSW, with a further $10.8 billion committed for additional health infrastructure over the four years to 2024-2025. More than 170 health capital works projects have been delivered with a further 110 projects underway across the state.
