"Today is 700 million reasons why the people of this region can smile," Kiama MP and Communities and Disability Services Minister Gareth Ward said on Tuesday.

He delivered it flanked by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Treasurer Dominic Perrottet and Health Minister Brad Hazzard at Shell Cove. It will go down as one of the most significant announcements this region has seen.

A $700 million new hospital which will provide thousands of jobs for this region during construction, but more importantly much-needed extra health services for a growing and thriving region.

Read more: Now that it is funded, where will the new hospital go

Mr Ward and the Berejiklian government deserve credit for making this important investment in this region's future.

Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District board chair Denis King, a man who should take a deal of credit for achieving this outcome, described it as "visionary".

"It will allow us to recast the way we deliver healthcare to co-ordinate our care across all our sites," he said.

"We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to plan services, to learn the lessons that have come out of COVID in terms of how we should be delivering services, about how we can integrate with the community better and how beneficial that can be."

This community should also take its share of credit and pride from Tuesday's announcement. Not sure about "blood", but there was definitely a lot of "sweat" and "tears" to end up where we did with a brand new, state-of-the-art facility.

This community made it clear it was not prepared to accept a redevelopment of the current ailing and ageing facility, a government offer that would have provided nothing more than a band-aid fix for the Illawarra.

We fought for what was right. We fought for what we deserved. And the Berejiklian government has delivered.

This new facility will provide a vital boost to a rapidly growing population and will provide welcome relief to hospitals in the south and to the north.

Reasons to smile indeed.

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