Premier Barry OFarrell announced to the media that his Government would investigate mandatory sprinklers in both aged care and retirement villages after the Quakers Hill fire has claimed 10 dead and left approximately 30 residents in a critical state. A registered male nurse on shift has been charged for deliberately lighting two fires at about 4.00am. Victoria made sprinklers mandatory for care facilities in 2002 after a fatal fire in 1996. The cost to retrofit a care facility is between $30-40,000. The Australian Building Codes Board in 2007 investigated whether national standards allowing nursing homes to operate without sprinklers were inadequate, without a result. Villages have not been required to have sprinklers. Police checks for village staff however becomes more likely with each event.
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Three years after $1B+ valuation, RetireAustralia faces $850M sale
Infratil and NZ Super put its jointly owned business RetireAustralia on the market in March 2022 with a reported price tag of over $1 billion. With its profits soring, the joint owners announced it was off the market in December 2023. In April last...