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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-11-27 Daily Xml
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Kalimna Hostel Site

The Hon. C. BONAROS (14:47): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Health and Wellbeing a question about the Kalimna Hostel in Strathalbyn.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: I wish to revisit a question I asked the minister earlier this month about the Kalimna site. As I have said previously, aged-care residents in the region were left stranded when the hostel was closed in 2016 due to its not meeting fire safety standards. In opposition, the Liberals said that, if elected at the 2018 state election, they would invest $1.1 million in the hostel and would 'see the community decide its future as either for accommodation for the aged or transform it into an aged allied health centre'.

We know that the issue has gone out to a request for information process to determine the future of the hostel, and was due to make public findings of the RFI process and its recommendations by October/November. My questions to the minister are:

1. What has the government done to ensure the community decides its future as either for accommodation for the aged or transform it into an aged allied health centre in accordance with its own policy position at the time of the election?

2. Why has the government failed to disclose the outcome of its request for information process, given that the RFI document states that an announcement will be made in October/November?

3. Have any recommendations been made about the future use of the Kalimna site at Strathalbyn as a result of the request for information process?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:49): I thank the honourable member for her question. I may well provide further information once I have gathered the information, but let me in broad terms suggest that we have engaged the community not only in community forums before and after the last election but there was a community meeting, I think in Strathalbyn, as part of the public consultation about the residential aged-care facility on the western side of High Street.

My understanding is that there were a lot of comments at that forum indicating that the community view has not changed. The community has consistently said to the Liberal Party—if you like, to all political parties—that they would prefer that the Kalimna facility continue to provide accommodation for the aged. There certainly are other proposals around. For example, there are members of the community who are interested in it being an allied health hub. I certainly continue to have the view that the community of Strathalbyn strongly supports an aged accommodation use of the site.

As I said to the honourable member in answer to her earlier question, the government is committed to delivering on the commitment in relation to Kalimna. It committed the $1.1 million, whatever it is; it is in the budget. I thank the Treasurer for his commitment to this government being a government that delivers on its election commitments, and that funding is on stand-by. As I said, the RFI process is continuing. The honourable member asked me whether or not the decision had been delayed. I don't know whether the RFI will be finalised by the end of this week but I have no reason to believe that the RFI process will not have a successful conclusion.

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