With the NSW Elections to be held this Saturday, funding announcements have been coming in at a fast and furious rate from all sides. With Monaro regarded as a marginal seat, the Deputy Premier Troy Grant has been out and about supporting standing Member for Monaro John Barilaro. The biggest announcement to affect Braidwood is in health.
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Last week Mr Grant and Mr Barilaro were in town to announced a re-elected NSW Liberals & Nationals Government will invest more than $5 million to redevelop Braidwood Multi-Purpose Service (MPS).
“Braidwood MPS delivers compassionate care and comfort to many in the community and this investment is well-deserved,” Mr Grant said.
The Braidwood MPS project is funded from ‘Rebuilding NSW’ with the NSW Government investing almost $5 billion in the redevelopment of hospitals and health facilities in its first term, promising billions more if re-elected.
Labor candidate for Monaro Steve Whan has announced he will upgrade and modernise the Braidwood Multi-Purpose Health Service – without privatising the electricity network if re-elected.
Labor will engage in planning works to determine the full scope of the upgrade. The key difference between the Nationals commitment and Labor’s is that Labor has guaranteed full funding for the full rebuild, up to $25 million. The Nationals are only offering Braidwood planning money. Labor has reserved $300 million as part of the Regional Multipurpose Health Facilities Program – matching a promise of the Liberal-National Government.
Country Labor Candidate for Monaro Steve Whan said the key difference was that the Liberal-National promise was dependent on privatising the electricity network. Labor’s $10.0555 billion infrastructure plan ‘A Better Way’ – one-third of which is reserved for rural and regional NSW – provides the same $300 million of funding with no privatisation strings attached.
Under the program, small rural health services will be redeveloped into 21st century facilities offering integrated health, community and aged care services. Towns to benefit include Braidwood, Tenterfield, Dungog, Narromine, Blayney, Crookwell, Yass and Hay.
“Particular challenges at Braidwood identified by Southern NSW Local Health District include: Lack of capacity to expand; Ageing and deteriorating condition of facilities; and Safety issues and inefficiencies due to separate provision of residential low care, community health services and acute beds in stand alone buildings.