Days after the Nationals leadership spill in January, Nationals Leader Michael McCormack (pictured inset) personally asked Scott Morrison and Senator Richard Colbeck for a $120,000 grant to try to find a buyer for the 40-bed DP Jones aged care home in Murchison, Victoria (pictured above), which is in the electorate of his ally Damian Drum, The Australian reports.
As we covered here, DP Jones closed, in receivership, in early February despite the Government funding two expressions of interest campaigns costing $400,000 after the home went into liquidation in November 2019 – with debts of $3 to $4 million after spending its RADs and not fulfilling obligations to staff, according to the paper.
The Australian says Mr Drum wrote to Mr McCormack in late January to criticise the failed expressions of interest campaigns and began lobbying the Government for immediate financial support to keep the home open – even as the administrators’ SV Partners moved residents out.
Labor has questioned the $520,000 in grants, alleging its MP Emma McBride was told in November 2019 by Senator Colbeck that the Government was “unable to intervene” in the closure of two homes in her NSW Central Coast electorate.
Senator Colbeck has told The Australian that Ms McBride did “not request support to keep the facilities open nor did providers seek to”.
But the Department also told the Senate Estimates Committee in October last year that the viability of a service is “an issue for management” – while directly commenting on the Murchison case.
The handout confirms the Government will bail out aged care facilities that are going under (albeit only ones in their electorates) – putting them on the line for millions of dollars in funding.
Add in the $27.5 billion in RADs also guaranteed by the Government and the threat of more closures suddenly looks like a very expensive exercise.
