Greens Health spokesperson, Cecily Rosol MP
The Rockliff Government must listen to key health stakeholders like the AMA and ANMF and get on with the job of planning for a new Royal Hobart Hospital.
The Greens have been pushing for planning to start for a new hospital. This was a key commitment we made at the 2025 election, and late last year we made a budget submission asking for the government to fund work on a business case and scoping work for a new facility.
It’s long been clear that the existing Royal can’t cope with demand now, let alone in the future. Experts and stakeholders have been calling for a commitment to a new hospital for years, but the government has ignored them. Instead they’ve been focused on building a stadium we don’t need.
A new Hobart hospital will play a central role in providing critical health services to all Tasmanians and deliver significant statewide benefits. We must stop kicking the can down the road and get on with planning for this essential project.
Greens Member for Hobart, Cassy O’Connor MLC
With the health crisis getting worse every year and Tasmanians suffering as a result, we can’t keep ignoring the reality, doing the same things, and expecting a different result. We need to see ambitious action that will meet the needs of all Tasmanians into the future.
Tasmanians deserve investment in a world class public hospital over a third expensive stadium.
Redevelopments at the Royal have been welcome, but they are already inadequate and won’t deliver a hospital that keeps up with community needs. That’s because there just isn’t enough space on the hospital’s CBD site. We agree with the doctors and nurses who hold the Royal together – it’s time to start planning now for a new hospital at a new location.
Of course, building a new hospital doesn’t mean abandoning the CBD site. We need the government to do the work, looking at how the existing site would be used, where a new hospital would go, and how those two facilities would best work together.
Building a new hospital is of course a huge, complex and expensive project. It will require significant investment with support from the Federal Government, but funding for such critically important health infrastructure should be prioritised over a new, multi-billion dollar stadium.
The Liberal and Labor parties need to get their priorities straight.
