We are told, unequivocally, by the Member for Tamworth Peter Draper, that the State Government’s election pledge of $130 million is bankable and that construction will commence in the term of the current parliament.

This claim has been repeated by Premier Nathan Rees in the Parliament and was reaffirmed as recently as yesterday by Health Minister John Della Bosca’s staff in response to questions from The Leader.

It sits oddly, however, with media reports Mr Rees had included both the Tamworth Hospital redevelopment project and the Narrabri hospital upgrade on his wish list of projects to be funded from the Federal Government’s Hospital and Health Fund.

This fund is part of a total $2.5 billion injection of cash NSW is seeking as its share of the Federal Government’s recesssion-busting $10 billion infrastructure spend.

If the State Government has the money to cover the Tamworth project then why is it looking to the Feds for a bailout now? And, more significantly, why is it going to the Federal Government cap in hand with a project we already know does not meet the set criteria for the infrastructure spending?

When the infrastructure program was first announced, the Feds made it very clear they would not be picking up the cash can for failed State Government projects.

Projects that had previously been announced – such as Tamworth and Narrabri – did not qualify, we were told.

Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon was moved to reiterate this point on November 18 after the NSW mini-budget – a horror in every sense of the word – made reference to health projects that had been deferred “subject to discussion with the commonwealth regarding national infrastructure funds”. We confirmed that this was still the case with her office late yesterday.

“This fund shouldn’t be seen as a replacement for State and Federal capital works programs,” we were told.

Please explain ... anybody?