Following their recent visit to Leeton, Greens MP Lee Rhiannon and Greens candidate for Riverina David Fletcher have called on NSW Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt to immediately cancel plans to privatise Carramar Aged Care Facility. A decision on the sale of Carramar is expected by the end of June.
Ms Rhiannon stated: "The Health Minister should take up the offer of the Carramar Carers Group and visit this facility. She should not make the decision on the future of Carramar and the patients sitting in her Sydney office.
"After visiting this facility I am convinced that if Ms Tebbutt saw Carramar for herself she would immediately cancel her government's sell-off plans.
"Ms Tebbutt needs to quickly intervene and inform Southern Area Health that Carramar Aged Care Facility will stay in public hands” said Ms Rhiannon.
Mr Fletcher added: “Once privatised, Carramar will still receive vast amounts of public money in the form of federal funding top-ups. The reasoning behind the sale is totally void of logic. Public funds must remain in the public sphere.
“Alarmingly for the region, the potential loss of scarce and valuable respite beds - which are unprofitable - will place more pressure on the Riverina region’s already stretched and over-crowded facilities.
“Common sense would dictate that the NSW Government should hold off on making a decision on Carramar until the details of Prime Minister Rudd’s health reforms are sorted out.
“Members of the Leeton community give up their own time to make the lives of those frail and elderly residents of Carramar as enjoyable and dignified as possible. Once the ownership of Carramar is lost, how does the community’s volunteer spirit that built Carramar fit with the profit making motives of the private sector?” Mr Fletcher queried.
Neil Boardman, President of the Carramar Carers Group added: "If Carramar beds are sold to a private provider it will be a damning step by the NSW government. A generous community will be devastated and the chance of future growth for our town diminished.
"Our group thanks Lee Rhiannon and her colleagues for visiting our facility. I suggest a visit to Leeton by Ms Tebbutt so she can see Carramar for herself. This would leave her in no doubt that the right decision would be to leave Carramar as a state run facility and to show strong recognition of the large contribution this community has shown in the past and present," Mr Boardman said.