Beazley visits aged villa

Sydney
4 November 2001

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Beazley visits aged villa

Kim Beazley greets St Mary’s residents.

By Kathleen Carmody

Residents of a Catholic nursing home and hostel for the aged found themselves at the centre of the political action when Opposition Leader Kim Beazley dropped in on them to launch part of his election package.

He chose St Mary’s Villa in Concord as the place to unveil the Labor Party’s Plan for Older Australians, a package which includes measures worth $586.8 million over four years to address what he describes as “the current crisis in aged care”.

The Opposition package includes doubling from $500 to $1,000 a year the amount people can take as an advance on their age pension to cope with unexpected one-off costs and a promise that pensioners can borrow up to $8,500 against the value of their home.

John Murphy, MP for Lowe, said he had approached St Mary’s about receiving Mr Beazley because it was the best aged care facility in his electorate.

“The standard of care, you could only describe it as excellent. The staff are so compassionate and caring for the patients here and … you just know from the minute you walk into this nursing home that the Catholic Church is doing a great job here in Concord,” Mr Murphy said.

The director of nursing at St Mary’s, Josie Ligos, said the residents were excited to meet Mr Beazley who has made aged care a central plank of his domestic agenda.

“The majority of them were really excited and they feel really happy that we have been chosen to be visited by Mr Beazley,” she said.

Long-time residents Iris Walker and Ellie Hughes said they enjoyed the visit.

“It was very interesting and very nice. We were very pleased to have him here,” said Iris. “I’ve been here 16 years, Ellie and I came here the day it opened.”

Mr Beazley was impressed with what he saw at St Mary’s. “When you visit a great nursing home like this it’s inspirational. To see good staff, good caring staff, and people happy, it’s a very good thing,” he said.

“We just want all our elderly Australians to have the same opportunity that the good folk here have – to be able to live in such beautiful, decent surroundings.”

• The Coalition has announced a $416 million extra aged care package to meet wage and care costs, including capital funding for remote and regional areas, and aged care nursing scholarships and training.