Cronulla MP, Malcolm Kerr said today that the NSW State Government was ignoring the concerns of thousands of Shire and Illawarra residents in proceeding with the sale of the Garrawarra Centre for the Aged at Waterfall.

Despite thousands of petition signatories being presented to the Government it is progressing with the final evaluation of tender proposals and offers.

After an interim evaluation of proposals for the 12 nursing homes up for sale, the Government has spared only two, Wallsend and Murrumburrah-Harden.

Health Minister Tebbutt is pushing ahead to sell Garrawarra, a dementia specific facility, despite refusing my invitation to visit the Centre  to see for herself the high standard care given to the 120 dementia patients of the Garrawarra Centre.

‘The public have a right to know the name of the preferred tenderer for Garrawarra and the amount of money involved in the sale before the Minister makes the final decision’ Mr Kerr said.

‘The public also have a right to know the future of the 800 acres of vegetated crown land on which Garrawarra is located’

‘The Keneally LaborGovernment is neglecting the current and future needs of the Sutherland Shire’s ageing population with its plans to sell off the magnificent Garrawarra Centre’

‘The population of people 65-years and older in the Sutherland area is set to double over the next 20+years and dementia related diseases in the Shire are predicted to rise by 265% in the next forty years.  The epidemic of dementia is set to make it the disease of the century’