Well, I believe they have a gross lack of respect for the wider Bendigo community with some of the wild accusations made about the tendering process with the new hospital. 

How do they know who the preferred contractor is? 

How do they and the Bendigo Advertiser know that the tender provided from Lend Lease shows so much vision more than Theiss?  

How do they know we would get a second-rate hospital if we go with the latter? 

Are the Bendigo Advertiser and our two ALP members privy to the tender process? 

I am not for or against either contractors, but if a contractor has signed an agreement with a union against well-known government policies, that’s their problem.

The tender period had been closed before it was announced they were ineligible, therefore, at the tendering stage, there were no issues with pricing. 

It sounds like to me, our ALP members don’t want Bendigo’s biggest project to go ahead and all of our tradies to miss out on future job employment and prosperity. 

Here’s an idea – let the process follow its normal procedure, give the other contractor enough time to withdraw their union agreement, award the contract to the best contractor, and finally, get on with it.

 Jack Lyons 

Kangaroo Flat

Editor’s note: We can’t speak for the ALP members but our interpretation of the present state of the hospital tender process was made after spending time talking to people.