Members of the Maitland Community Alliance, medical staff, union delegates and concerned local residents will travel to Macquarie Street today to hear the Maitland Hospital petition being debated on the Parliament floor.
A bus will be leaving Maitland Hospital at 11am to transport Maitland constituents to Parliament House to hear the debate.
Over 10,000 petitions were lodged on 2 June 2017 with the Parliamentary Table Office which triggered today's debate.
On 12 July 2017 the NSW Government finally walked away from its disastrous privatised Public Private Partnership model for Maitland and announced its intention to seek a not-for-profit private operator to build and operate the new Maitland Hospital.
The Minister has publicly stated he believes an area's health infrastructure should be in line with 'what patients and the community want.'
It's now been six years, or over 2,400 days, since the government first promised our new Maitland hospital and the community view is absolutely clear. The people of Maitland have taken unprecedented action against the public-private partnership and not-for profit models. They have attended rallies and public meetings and today's debate was triggered by a petition signed by more than 10,000 people.
You can watch a livestream of the debate from 4.30pm by visiting https://www.facebook.com/jenny.aitchison/
Quotes from Jenny Aitchison, Member for Maitland:
"I will continue to hold the Government to account to deliver a hospital that is in the best interests of our community."
"After six years, the community and staff deserve to know exactly what is on the table."
"My office continues to received completed petitions on a daily basis and we're close to being able to lodge another 10,000 signatures to trigger a second debate."
"I urge the Berejiklian Government to listen to the community, they want a hospital that is fully publicly funded, they do not want a privatised hospital."
"I'm really looking forward to today's debate. It will give me the opportunity to bring residents' concerns directly to decision makers here in Macquarie Street."
