The intention to create a regional tertiary education centre is no doubt a worthwhile project.

But with no indication as to the price paid for the building and its four hectares of land yet, how can we in the community know if it’s the best use of our money?

Also, Bega already has a satellite campus of the world-renowned University of Wollongong as well as a regional TAFE campus.

TAFE is going through a rough patch of late, with questions raised as to its future, but there have been assurances from the state government that wherever a campus is currently, so one will remain.

And with Wollongong University only recently investing in state-of-the-art nurse training facilities attached to its Auckland St campus, one would assume it’s not in the market for a move any time soon.

So is the council planning to lure a third player to the area?

Or perhaps it intends to enter the education sector itself – it’s already taking on the mantle of property mogul in addition to its arts benefactor and hotel owner roles.

The purchase of the Bega hospital comes on the back of $1.2million spent on the Tura Tavern (plus  associated fit-out costs believed to be in the order of $1million) and $1.293million on the former Auswide building in Merimbula.

There was also an estimated $550,000 to save Eden’s Hotel Australasia from developers, and around $600,000 for an empty block of land in Bega slated for car parking.

While Merimbula’s building is now a “regional training centre” and the old tavern a library, not one of these “investments” looks likely to make a financial return anytime soon – although the car parking is sorely needed in the Bega CBD, as elsewhere in the shire.

And with our mayor saying this latest purchase is not being done as a money making venture, ratepayers would rightly have reservations about the council’s thinking.

The mayor says the idea behind the purchase is so the land doesn’t “simply go out to auction and it becomes another residential subdivision”. 

This only a day after council staff conceded there is not enough land in the shire available for development.

Food for thought.