It is bitterly disappointing that Labor continues to throw rocks at the Royal Hobart Hospital redevelopment.
This is political opportunism and fails to recognise the progress being achieved.
The $689 million redevelopment is delivering a new 10-storey hospital and over 20 refurbished areas.
It will be a state of the art facility for generations of Tasmanians to come and we are working hard to see it completed to provide the state with a world class health service.
The simple fact is that the Labor/Green Government botched this important project. In fact it had no safe decanting plan for patients, was so far off track and so far behind schedule, that it could not have proceeded at all.
Even Labor recognised this and abandoned it in favour of an unfunded $2.6 billion proposal at the Cenotaph.
The Government has rescued the project, improved it with better design features and established a safe patient decanting plan that substantially reduces patient risk.
The Government has acknowledged that all projects of this size experience challenges.
It is up to the builder to rectify building issues and deliver a facility which is up to the high standard required in the contract. This will be done at no expense to the taxpayer.
As the customer, that is our clear expectation, and that is what the builder has committed to do.
As soon as Fairbrother was made aware that there was a problem, they acted immediately to get independent advice to rectify the issues.
Patient safety is our top priority and the Government will not accept the handover of the building until it is safe and fit for purpose.
The contracted date for the delivery of the rescued RHH redevelopment is the end of 2018 and this remains the case.
