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Decision Time
8 April 2006
A decision on the hospital is imminent and no one has expressed
to me other than strong support for collocation with the
University.
It is perplexing that the initial formal announcement by the
Premier has been revisited at all, but I hope that having
undertaken an independent review, the State can now confirm the
logic of the original announcement.
Doing so would echo the message the Premier so strongly
delivered at the Gold Coast only a few short weeks ago, when he
confirmed that their $500 million hospital, also initially
announced last May, had been reconfirmed as being collocated with
Griffith University. The logic outlined by the Premier referred to
the reflection of world's best practice.
The same logic needs to prevail at the Sunshine Coast because we
want nothing less than world's best practice models developed
here.
Although there has been controversy over the lack of
transparency over the original process, the decision itself was
sound. It was in the best interests of this Coast, in the same way
as it is in the best interests of the Gold Coast.
There are no serious impediments remaining, as nine months of
master planning and investigations have shown.
The size of the site has almost doubled and it is more than
adequate for a major hospital plus future expansion, according to
an independent analysis.
We know that the major road problems will be solved in 2007.
The University is eager to connect its research and teaching to
ensure benefits to the community as a whole.
All that is now needed is reconfirmation of the original world's
best practice logic, and all of those then involved in the final
stages of the planning will concertedly work together to ensure the
best possible solution.
This would be Smart State decision-making. It would be a
decision based on knowledge and be about a future based on
knowledge. An alternative would be an expedient compromise driven
by demographics or politics rather than knowledge about the logical
dimensions of this decision and its long-term importance for the
Coast and the quality of health care.
I remain hopeful that so important a decision is not compromised
in any way and is based solely on the logic of world's best
practice.
Professor Paul Thomas is Vice-Chancellor of University of
the Sunshine Coast