The City of Greater Bendigo’s decision to shelve its in-home aged care support program has been criticized by federal member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters.
Article continues after this ad
Advertisement
It’s been reported that the move could result in up to 83 employees losing their jobs.
Chesters said in a statement that the decision to scrap the program by mid-next year was extremely disappointing.
Article continues after this ad
Advertisement
“Our council run in-home aged care services are a vital and much-loved service,” she said.
“A model set by the market may not offer the same support to clients and we have seen this
trend emerge with other councils that have gone down this path,”.
Article continues after this ad
Advertisement
Last Friday, Bendigo’s council did not attend a roundtable held with providers of this service in local government in Victoria.
Lisa Darminan from the Australian Services Union said Bendigo residents, especially elderly ones, should expect better.
“There are decisions around spending money on the Art Gallery in the millions of dollars,” she said.
Article continues after this ad
Advertisement
“Yet the delivery of these important services to the community cost in the order of $300,000 per annum.”
She said it was concerning to see where the “priorities” were from the local government.
Article continues after this ad
Advertisement
Image: Andreas Bohnenstengel, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons.
