Wilkie slams Tas government over hospital INDEPENDENT MP Andrew Wilkie has slammed the Tasmanian state government over delays to the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) redevelopment he negotiated in the days after the last federal election. Mr Wilkie won $340 million from the federal government towards the project in 2010 as part of his agreement to support former prime minister Julia Gillard's government in the hung parliament, famously knocking back $1 billion from opposition leader Tony Abbott. He says the $586 million joint federal and state rebuild is 20 months behind schedule because of delays by the Labor-Green state government, which announced the John Holland Fairbrother joint venture as managing contractors on Monday. "I'll keep the pressure on the state government," Mr Wilkie told reporters in Hobart. I think they've been tardy up until now. This contract should have been signed 18 or 20 months ago, in accordance with the original plan. That plan has been altered, with the state government announcing less floor space and five fewer operating theatres last month. Tasmanian health minister Michelle O'Byrne has said the changes are for clinical reasons, a claim Mr Wilkie rejects. "There is only one reason we've got less operating theatres in the new hospital," he said. It's because the project is 20 months behind schedule. The state government has burned many millions of dollars already during the 20-month delay. The project is now scheduled to be completed in mid 2017. Ms O'Byrne said the re-design meant more of the project would be "custom-built" new buildings. "We owe it to patients, staff and Tasmanians to get a project of this size and complexity right," she said in a statement. Tasmanian firm Fairbrother Pty Ltd will build the $31.1 million cancer centre on the RHH site. Mr Wilkie said the managing contractors should make a point of employing local subcontractors to help Tasmania's ailing construction sector.