Towong excluded from talks

A decision by councils across the border region to march on the Victorian Parliament next week in a united campaign for the construction of a new Albury-Wodonga hospital has been put on hold, pending talks with the Minister for Health, Mary-Anne Thomas.

The councils have previously rejected the proposal from the Victorian and NSW governments to redevelop the Albury hospital.

Letters to both state premiers seeking meetings to discuss the issue were ignored up until the decision to mount a Spring Street protest.

Minister Thomas subsequently arranged a 30-minute online meeting with the mayors of Albury and Wodonga – Kevin Mack and Michael Gobel – on Tuesday to put their case.

Both mayors said they were disappointed not to have the opportunity to meet face-to-face.

Instead, the meeting will be held via Microsoft Teams involving the two mayors and their respective chief executives.

This was also deemed unsatisfactory as it excluded other councils involved in the hospital campaign. 

“We made a very specific request include other mayors if it was going to be on Teams, understanding it’s difficult to get a lot of mayors down to Melbourne for a face-to-face,” said Cr Gobel.

He said that request was refused as was a later appeal to have the Towong and Indigo mayors join in online.

A final decision on whether to proceed with the march on Parliament on February 19 will be dependent on a meeting today of the 17 councils involved.  

This article appeared in the Corryong Courier, 13 February 2025.
Related story: Taking it to the streets