The future of Junee’s beloved aged care facility Cooinda Court has been secured with the transfer of the property to the community from the NSW Government.
Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke today announced the NSW Government had agreed to transfer the property at unimproved land value to Junee Hostel for the Aged (JHA).
The land is currently leased to JHA from Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD) for a nominal rate under a long-term lease, due to expire in October 2019.
“JHA provides valuable volunteer-based aged care services to local residents,” Ms Cooke said.
“Without this transfer, JHA would have struggled to continue to provide the exceptional service they do for many of the town’s founding families.
“I promised I would go in to bat for Junee and I’m very proud that their advocacy paid off and together, we won for this town.”
JHA Chairperson Patricia Butler said the future looks bright for Cooinda Court.
“This acquisition of the land allows us to move forward and now consider the further expansion of Cooinda Court, meeting the needs of aging members of our community,” Ms Butler said.“
I would like to thank Steph and her staff for staying the course and providing a positive outcome. Without Steph’s support and persistence our facility was looking at possible closure.”
Cooinda Court has 22 residential aged care beds and is managed by a not-for-profit community-based board.
Ms Cooke said she was delighted that previous representations to the government on behalf of the community had delivered a positive result for the town.
“The local community has made a considerable investment in this facility, in time, effort and resources, and this decision provides certainty for the future for local families,” she said.
The property is surplus to the requirements of MLHD and the transfer is in accordance with NSW Government property disposal procedures and approval processes.
