Around 30,000 Queenslanders live in one of the 300 retirement villages across Queensland.
On 24 August 2011 the Deputy Premier and Attorney-General, Minister for Local Government and Special Minister of State, Paul Lucas, tabled in Parliament a discussion paper on retirement villages in Queensland. The paper dealt only with the circumstances around retirement village closures and invited community feedback.
“While Retirement Villages often offer residents accommodation that is more secure and supportive than renting in the private market, there are questions around how closures are handled,” Queensland Attorney-General Paul Lucas said.
COTA Queensland submitted the linked submission and indicated an interest in participating in a broader review of retirement villages in Queensland if such a review is to be conducted.
I have read through most of your report and am pleased to see you recommend that residents of retirement villages have a say.
My experience as a resident of such a village is that there is a residents’ committee and also a residents’ newsletter. Both of these communication mediums, while ostensibly operated by residents, are in fact operated by the staff of the village.
The committee meetings always have staff present,and, not only present but controlling the meeting so much that resident discussion is squashed.
The newsletter is put together by a resident and published by the village management, and always has comment ( most often in the form of direction) in it from the village manager. The village manager also has publishes memos which are circulated through residents’ mailboxes. I am informed that residents are not allowed to do the same.
In the 6 months I have been in this village I have not seen any published comment or discussion by residents and the meetings are basically operated as a voice for management with morning tea provided after for those attending- attendance is incredibly low. No minutes of these meetings are provided to residents.
There is no other way for residents to get together free of the influence of paid staff (whose salaries we in fact pay.)
So, before you consider establishing a framework for residents to have a say in the dissolution of a village I think they need to be assured of first having a voice of some kind!