It makes little sense to spend tens of millions on a hospital and then to cut back the emergency services that deliver patients to that same hospital.

While there has been for many years a round-the-clock ambulance stationed in Glen Innes, it will now be increasingly necessary to despatch ambulances from Inverell or Armidale to attend to emergencies in the northern reaches of New England.

This will lead to an increase in waiting times from around 10 minutes currently to over 45 minutes. For some emergencies, this would mean the difference between life and death.

To cut ambulance services in a rural area at the same time as the Nationals announce a pre-election hospital spend strikes me as a most cynical vote-buying exercise.

Northern Tablelands residents deserve both a quality hospital and a timely emergency service, and the Greens are committed to both.

Mercurius Goldstein

Northern Tablelands Greens candidate