Canberra Hospital Expansion Project director Martin Little and Minister for Health Rachel Stephen-Smith in front of the major construction site. Photo: ACT Government.
The Canberra Liberals have criticised what they call ‘stunts’ around the construction of the $624 million Canberra Hospital expansion.
Last week Minister for Health Rachel Stephen-Smith announced the ‘next phase’ of the major project as the first of two cranes went up at the site.
To get the community involved with the project – which has been plagued by delays – the government is running a ‘name the crane’ competition.
Students from nearby Garran Primary School have been asked to shortlist ten names which the public will be able to vote on later this month through the YourSay website.
Suggestions have included ‘Haul McCartney’ and ‘Taylor Lift’ although Ms Stephen-Smith wasn’t impressed with ‘Craney McCraneface’. “We will probably be a bit more sophisticated than that,” she said.
Artwork from the school’s year one class is also being featured on fences around the project site.
Opposition spokesperson for health Leanne Castley was less than impressed, however. She said this kind of announcement from the government showed it was “more focused on stunts than on fixing a health system in crisis”.
“The [ACT Government] insults Canberrans with its gimmicks while Canberrans languish on waiting lists and plead for better healthcare,” Ms Castley claimed.
Opposition spokesperson for health Leanne Castley called the government’s crane-naming competition a ‘stunt’. Photo: Dominic Giannini.
Labor committed to the major expansion of the Canberra Hospital at the 2016 election and intended to finish in 2022. However, its completion date has been pushed back to 2024.
Planning Minister Mick Gentleman called in the $600 million project to keep it on schedule although he was unable to say how much time his intervention would save last year.
“Canberra’s health system is in crisis; the hospital expansion has been plagued by delays and is two years overdue, we have the longest emergency department wait times in the country,” Ms Castley said. “Canberra’s nurses and doctors are doing the best they can but the government has run down our health system and Canberrans are suffering because of it.”
The ACT’s public hospital wait times are consistently the worst in the country.
But Ms Stephen-Smith said she viewed the installation of the first crane as a symbol of the “work that lies ahead and of the massive effort” it had taken to get the project to this point.
Demolition work and excavation on the site of the future critical services building has already been underway since November last year.
“I’m very, very happy to be here celebrating this milestone,” Ms Stephen-Smith said. “The critical services building will be a cornerstone of Canberra’s health service and something that will really shape the future of Canberra Hospital to come, and is really built into the master plan as well.”
The critical services building is the largest part of the hospital expansion.
It will increase the capacity and ‘flow’ of the emergency department as well as the intensive care unit.
It’s expected the construction of the building will take at least the rest of this year and that could extend into 2023, Ms Stephen-Smith said.
Major Projects Canberra chief projects officer Duncan Edghill said the cranes would likely be part of the skyline for the next two years as work goes on.
Mr Edghill said orders for supplies and equipment would be made well in advance to try and combat any supply issues, which are currently plaguing the construction industry.
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