Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I'm deeply saddened by the pressure mounting on the Sherwood Respite Service, a wonderful organisation in Moreton started by good hearted locals three decades ago. Back then, the local Meals on Wheels volunteers observed that many of the people they were visiting were lonely and isolated due to age and mobility issues. They formed the community based Sherwood Respite Service. They were gifted a stately old Queenslander in Thallon Street, and in 1996 its doors were opened for day respite. The Sherwood Respite Service has one mission: to support the aged to live independently in our local community.

In 2016 the volunteer run organisation agreed that PresCare, a ministry of the Presbyterian Church of Queensland, would assume responsibility for the management services, assets and operations of the Sherwood Respite Service. PresCare committed to continuing the services at the Thallon Street house, and I have a letter confirming that. Local volunteers like Jan Kennedy, who'd been running the service for 20 years, thought they were doing the right thing by handing the service over to a more professional organisation. Now PresCare has just been placed in receivership. There's a 'for sale' sign out the front of the Thallon Street house. The donated building could be sold to pay PresCare's debts. So I call on the Liberal Brisbane City Council mayor to step up and stop such a sale. I call on the Minister for Health and Aged Care to preserve this wonderful service, started by my community to serve my community, as it has done so for decades. I'll be working with councillor Nicole Johnston and state member Mark Bailey to make sure we preserve this local asset.

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