Deceit, subterfuge and collusion are just some of the words that spring to mind on this issue, not to mention the lack of proper procedure when the hospital was first closed in 2010.

Building consultants confirmed the former hospital was safe, structurally sound and worthy of retention. 

The issue of asbestos was a furphy, as loose asbestos was found at the old mortuary, a considerable distance from the active hospital area.  

The asbestos in the hospital itself was well-covered and maintained.  

There were viable proposals for the building, such as medical specialist rooms.  It could have been a major tourist attraction for the town as an indigenous cultural centre (to my knowledge there is not one elsewhere in the Central West).  We could have had a Nancy Wake Memorial  - the list goes on.  

In the list of conditions for approval of demolition, Mid-Western Regional Council determined that the stone foundations  of the former hospital must be retained as an archaeological record, meaning that expansion of the MPS in that direction was not possible.  

Had there been a will to preserve the hospital from 2010, and had proper procedure been followed, the MPS probably would have been built on the other side of the former hospital where there was plenty of room for expansion.

I hold copies of most of the submissions that were presented to the Planning and Assessment Commission panel in September 2014.  

The panel's deliberations were so short they could not have had time to read them.  

These copies will be forwarded to the Gulgong Pioneers' Museum so that future generations will know that people with a vision and a passion for saving the heritage hospital were dudded by bureaucracy.