In the last term I doggedly fought for a new single site hospital for Albury Wodonga, lobbying the former Prime Minister, Treasurer and using every opportunity to keep the pressure on.

I was re-elected with a mandate to keep up this fight. The new Government is on notice that I will not rest until we have the hospital our growing and prosperous community deserves.

Both the current and former federal government have spent hundreds of millions building hospitals all around the country. This Government promised $200 million for the Flinders Medical Centre matched by the South Australian government. A new hospital for Albury Wodonga must be next.

A fortnight ago, the NSW and Victorian Health Ministers met in Albury and, for the first time, started discussions on how co-funding this hospital could work. We saw opposite sides of politics, uniting for a common cause, to address an urgent need. This Government needs to join them at the table.

Sharing the cost of a new hospital between three parties means that all sides get below-cost infrastructure. This is a world-class deal for a world-class hospital.

I look forward to inviting the State and Federal Ministers to meet on the border so they can see how transformational this investment could be.

It was former Labor Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, who was the original visionary for Albury Wodonga cross-border partnership almost 50 years ago. This Government has the chance to continue this legacy by funding this hospital.