There is no risk to future funding of the Mersey Hospital.
Tascorp’s investment strategies for the Mersey Community Hospital Fund will provide for payments to the Government up to and including the 10th year which is consistent with what the Government said when we took over the MCH.
For Labor to try and cause panic over a record funding deal shows how out of touch and desperate they have become.
There can be fluctuations in the annual rate of return from time to time given changes in market conditions.
I also explained to the Estimates Committee today that when the fund comes to an end, provision for replacement funding will be made in the State Budget to ensure that there is no impact on the Mersey’s operations and services, and it will effectively represent less than a 1 per cent call on the Budget.
It begs the question - where did Labor think the ongoing operations of the Mersey were going to be funded from? Or was it their plan to shut it down if they were in Government in ten years?
It’s time Labor supported that this Government has achieved what they couldn’t - a record funding deal from the Commonwealth to bring the Mersey back into state hands where it belongs.