The Shadow Minister for Consumer Protection, Julia Finn, and Member for The Entrance, David Mehan, have called on the Government to listen to the concerns of retirement village residents.
Finn and Mehan visited the Glengara Retirement Village at Tumbi Umbi on September 6 and met with concerned residents from its Residents Committee.
The residents are concerned that the government has failed to listen to their concerns about fees being charged by retirement village owners.
Prior to the election, the NSW Government promised to introduce a 42 day limit on the length of time villages can charge for general services after a resident leaves the village, but it now looks like the government may be turning its back on retirement village residents and denying existing residents the benefit of the 42 day limit, Finn said.
Residents are also concerned that retirement villages will not be required to pay exit entitlements within six months of leaving a village in metropolitan areas, and 12 months in regional areas, she added.
The NSW Government has now released a discussion paper to seek feedback from the retirement villages sector and the NSW community about how this commitment should be implemented, but Finn and Mehan said that wasn’t good enough.
Rather than deliver on their own election commitment, the government is forcing retirement village residents to lobby for the changes already promised. This morning (September 6) the residents have made it clear that they are worried about what the governments discussion paper means for them.
The last thing residents need to be worrying about is more fees and charges when they eventually leave the village, Finn said. Residents are worried that the government is going to break its promise and will make the changes prospective so that current residents will not be able to benefit from the 42 day time limit.
Instead what we will have is new village residents under one set of rules with regard to fees that they can be charged, and existing residents under a different set of rules. If the government goes ahead with the proposal to have two sets of rules, one for existing residents and one for new residents, it means the government has decided that some people deserve to be protected from these fees while others dont, Mehan said.
Source: Media release, Sep 6 David Mehan, MP