Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Service Economy, Small Business and Independent Contractors) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to speak today in support of Logan Central Respite Centre Association’s proposal for Regional Partnership funding. The Logan Central Respite Centre is a not-for-profit community organisation. It provides centre based and in-home respite for the aged, the frail and young people with moderate to severe disabilities. The centre aims to support the existing relationship between the frail aged and younger persons with disabilities and their families and carers in the community. The Logan Central Respite Centre’s goal is to continue to improve the quality of life of those people in need of assistance and their families and carers through the development of a comprehensive range of integrated home care and community based services in the Logan area.

The area that the centre serves is a very deserving area. Large parts of it are quite heavily disadvantaged, and this is a very worthy proposal. The Logan Central Respite Centre is committed to enhancing independence for those in need through effective, comprehensive, flexible and responsible respite and the associated services that can be delivered by a caring and competent team. The goal of the centre is to provide a realistic alternative to the premature or inappropriate placement in long-term residential care facilities in the Logan Central area, and that is a very important and valuable model. Logan Central Respite Centre is at present providing five day a week respite services for around 115 clients each week. It is also providing recreational, social and medical services and shopping as well as in-home respite for bedridden clients. The centre operates with nine staff as well as 15 dedicated volunteers.

The centre has applied for funding of $1.1 million through the Regional Partnerships Program to construct a purpose-built respite centre for the rapidly growing demand in the area. The new centre would be built on land allocated by the Logan City Council and would give a capacity to cater for an ever-growing demand. So this is a very worthy project. I hope the government evaluates it quickly and is able to approve this project. It is desperately needed in our area. It is a high-need area and I want to fully support the application for regional assistance partnership funding through the Greater Brisbane Area Consultative Committee.