How much will it really cost?

Leichhardt Council and the Friends of Callan Park want Rozelle Hospital back in Callan Park. With the state of the economy the question is, how much will it cost the local community?

On 4th November 2008 a Council report stated that, “Potentially, there are significant financial risks associated with Callan Park, which, at this stage, cannot be quantified,” the report found. “It is strongly recommended that no binding commitments are made with regard to a lease of Callan Park until a comprehensive due diligence process is undertaken. Sustainable recurrent funding, not just for a few years, but for 99 years, must also be secured.”

The president of the group Friends of Callan Park, Hall Greenland, said the state or federal government should fund the park’s upkeep.

Look at it this way. If the state or federal government had the money and the inclination to spend it on Callan Park…they would have done it themselves, yet Council is spending thousands trying to get the government to hand over millions. And by the way, this money comes from taxes that are levied not only our community but all of NSW.

In Leichhardt Council’s recent “Scoping Workshop’ states that the ‘Annual Infrastructure Renewal Costs’ are supposedly down from 5.5M to (approximately)  $4M and this is just to maintain Callan Park. In the longer term the cost will go up to $90 million, this would be needed to refurbish the 72 buildings on the site, add to this the millions more that would be needed to pay for remediation of the toxic soil which is contaminated with incinerated hospital waste.

Almost anyone that’s built or renovated a home will know that costs can and do blow way out of proportion, regardless of how well or how often the numbers are crunched.

The relocation of Rozelle Hospital to Concord was over budget – so one has to ask, if the state government with its top accountants can’t keep within a budget, how do we expect the Officers at Leichhardt Council, who will be managing the project – do any better?

To attempt to reinstate Rozelle Hospital to its form glory will take years (10 + years?) and enough money to build two (or three) state of the art mental health facilities.

Don’t get me wrong! I know that more mental health beds are needed. The question is…can our tax dollars be better spent helping those with mental illness by just providing more beds – or should we also be providing preventative mental health alternatives to prevent our community’s ever growing need for beds in the future?

Have your say!