John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the Bega Valley of southern New South Wales, about five kilometres south of Cobargo at Quaama, on the Princes Highway, there is a place called Nardy House. It is a respite facility for profoundly disabled people. For families struggling with the care of a loved one with very severe and multiple disabilities, respite care is a lifeline. It means that parents whose whole life is caring for an adult child can have a day or two when they can have a break, go out to dinner or even to a movie, and just do the sorts of things that we all take for granted.

And Nardy House is a great place. Over 12 years ago, members of the local community got together to do something for the most severely disabled people in their community. They formed a committee. They got to work to develop a facility in the Bega shire. Two dedicated parents donated 5½ acres of land worth around $100,000 so Nardy House could be built. They got a grant from the New South Wales government for $430,000. Building work commenced in early 2003 and was completed in late 2004. It was a great community effort. Support came from local tradesmen, professionals, parents, service clubs, local schools, churches, charities, major philanthropic groups, the Bega Valley Shire Council and community organisations. A further grant of $90,000 was received from the New South Wales government to assist with the fit-out of Nardy House.

Nardy House is a light, airy and very well-designed building. It is fully carpeted, with curtains, a central vacuum-cleaning system to eliminate allergens, reverse cycle airconditioning in every room and electric doors. It is a great new building with all the mod cons you can imagine. You could not ask for more, except for one thing—people! Nardy House has no profoundly disabled clients receiving respite care. It has no staff. Nardy House has never been used. It has been unoccupied for 14 months.

I only became aware of Nardy House coincidentally. Five weeks ago I was, believe it or not, guest speaker at a function organised by the Cobargo-Bermagui branch of the Australian Labor Party. While I was in Cobargo, the Nardy House committee asked to meet me and told me their story. I felt I had heard it before, and I had, of course. Nardy House is our very own St Edward’s Hospital in northern London. St Edward’s Hospital became famous in an early 1981 episode of Yes Minister, ‘The compassionate society’. It was famous for having 500 ancillary workers but no doctors, nurses or patients.

Well, there are no staff or clients receiving respite care at Nardy House either, but everything else is in place. In the bedrooms there are six electric beds, all with their bed linen and bedding still in plastic wrapping, having never been touched. Three ceiling hoists to assist with carrying clients from beds to ensuite bathrooms and toilets have never been operated. A hydraulic lift bath donated by the Cherish the Children foundation has never been filled. Three electric armchairs have never been touched.

In the fully equipped kitchen a six-burner stove has never been ignited. A microwave oven has never been connected. A dishwasher has never been plugged in. A refrigerator has not been used and a freezer has not been turned on. The full range of kitchen utensils and cutlery is still in plastic wrappings. In the laundry an industrial washing machine and an industrial clothes dryer have never been plugged in.

The fully equipped and furnished staff office includes a computer and a printer, which have never been used, and an internet connection, which has never been connected. In the communal lounge room of Nardy House you will find a TV, a DVD player, leather lounges, a coffee table and an entertainment unit—all unused.

You might remember this line from the famous Yes, Minister episode I mentioned:

First of all, you have to sort out the smooth running of the hospital. Having patients around would be no help at all.

As Sir Humphrey said:

They’d just be in the way.

If that were the case then Nardy House would run more smoothly than any other facility in New South Wales! What Nardy House needs is recurrent funding so that the facility can be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That will cost nearly a million dollars a year. Finding that money is the stumbling block.

Relations between the New South Wales government and the Nardy House committee are strained, to say the least. I am in no position to point the finger of blame for this situation and I will not do so, but I know this: a solution must be found for the Nardy House stand-off. Surely a society like ours can afford to provide respite care to families in great need and bearing great burdens. Surely government can come to the party to assist a community which has demonstrated so clearly and so capably its willingness to help itself. Surely the resources can be found.

So tonight I ask the responsible ministers of the New South Wales government to again look at the Nardy House situation and put aside the frustrations of the past. After all, more than half a million dollars of New South Wales taxpayers’ money has already been spent there. Tonight I also ask the federal Minister for Community Services, Mr Brough, to assess whether the Commonwealth can assist this local community in need and to do all he can, without simply resorting to the usual formulaic criticism of the state government of New South Wales.

With a forecast budget surplus of $10.8 billion announced tonight for the next financial year, I ask the federal government to find the money and the will to help these people. As the Treasurer said in his budget speech just a few minutes ago—and I completely agree with this part of his speech:

Carers of people with disabilities—whether they are children or older people—make a special, selfless contribution to our society.

I would hope that no government faced with such a clear and pressing need would stoop to take refuge behind the traditional buck-passing of state-federal relationships. For my part, I intend to keep a close eye on Nardy House to see that something happens. I am not going to let this matter go. (Time expired)