Charlton Hart: Onus is on Premier Roger Cook to stop the rot eating away at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital

The litany of failures at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital reads less like a maintenance log and more like a dispatch from a disaster zone. Claims of “radioactive waste” seeping from pipes, human excrement flowing through an intensive care unit, black mould festering above the heads of staff trying to do their jobs. These are not the hallmarks of a First World health system. They are signs of a system, and a government, that is failing in its most fundamental duty. The internal documents obtained by The West Australian paint a damning picture of managed decline at one of Perth’s premier hospitals. It is a story of crisis layered upon crisis, where the very infrastructure meant to support healing is actively causing harm. When staff in an ICU — a place reserved for the most critically ill and vulnerable — have to declare internal emergencies because of sewage leaks, we have moved beyond simple neglect. This is a profound betrayal of public trust. What is most alarming is the sheer chronicity and bureaucratic inertia revealed in these reports. Staff repeatedly warned that expensive lab equipment was at risk, only to see their pleas go unanswered for months on end. This isn’t about unforeseen accidents; it’s about a documented, systemic inability to perform JUbasic maintenance in a timely and effective manner. It would be convenient for the Government to frame this as a simple case of an old building needing repairs. But West Australians know better. The crumbling infrastructure at “Charlies” is merely the physical manifestation of a health system that has been buckling under pressure for years. For too long, the headlines have been dominated by ambulance ramping statistics that only seem to be getting worse and emergency departments overflowing with patients who have nowhere else to go. We have become numb to stories of unacceptable elective surgery waitlists. These aren’t separate problems. They all stem from the same root cause: years of chronic underinvestment, poor planning, and a government that has prioritised ribbon-cuttings for new projects over maintaining the critical foundations of the ones we already have. When a hospital can’t even guarantee that its most vulnerable patients won’t be exposed to human excrement, we are bordering on Third World. Let’s be clear: this is not the fault of the maintenance crews inundated with more than 1000 work orders, or the frontline nurses and doctors raising the alarm. The buck stops with the Premier. As a long-serving health minister before taking the top job, Roger Cook owns this crisis more than anyone. Yet his response, and that of his Government, has been a masterclass in political deflection. When emergency departments are overwhelmed, it’s “unprecedented demand” to blame. Or, when paramedics are waiting at the front door to offload patients: “Ambulance ramping is a feature of all health systems in Australia”, according to the Premier. And what about those code yellow internal emergencies that are constantly declared by staff? Oh that’s right, they’re: “A normal part of the health system management.” It’s time for the Premier to step up and accept responsibility for the rot that has set in on his watch. Pointing to a shiny new wing of a hospital in a developing suburb does nothing to fix the radioactive leak in a sub-basement. This Government has become adept at admiring the new curtains while the house is on fire. The repeated, desperate pleas from staff captured in these work orders —“This is the 4th (report) raised for this issue”, “worried about roof collapsing (has done so in the past)” — are a damning indictment of a leadership that is not listening. Our healthcare system is the patient now. It is bleeding from a thousand cuts, and the people in charge are offering little more than platitudes and bandaids. It’s time to stop deflecting and start rebuilding. Not with glossy pamphlets and press conferences but with the urgent, foundational investment. The alternative is a complete system failure and we are terrifyingly close.

Charlton Hart: Onus is on Premier Roger Cook to stop the rot eating away at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital

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