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Graythwaite hits the airwaves on 702 ABC Sydney on the Sally Loane morning program 10 September 2002. Below is the transcript of an interview with Tim Phillips of Hope Healthcare, who manages the current nursing home on behalf of the Health Department. The fact that the Health Department would not provide a spokesperson speaks volumes for their plans for Graythwaite and their total lack of transparency in the process.
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SALLY LOANE - PRESENTER:
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Graythwaite is apparently governed by a trust and the Health Department, if it wanted to sell it, would have to separate the property from the trust and they would need Supreme Court approval for this. Now, apparently in 1994 they applied for this approval but the application lapsed due to the political climate at the time.
Unbeknownst to the council and to the community, apparently the Health Department applied again last year. Now, this application, we think, has again lapsed.
Joining me on the line is Tim Philips who's the CEO of Hope Healthcare which runs Graythwaite as a nursing home. Mr Philips, good morning.
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TIM PHILIPS - HOPE HEALTHCARE:
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Good morning Sally. Thank you for that … you have clarified what the position is, except just to emphasise that Tim Hughes was quite right, that it is a trust that exists as you just quoted from it. And if I could just finish the last part of what has to be read, because it says when not required for that purpose as convalescent home in perpetuity for distressed subjects of the British Empire regardless of sect or creed.
And so that's the purpose which the Dibbs family wanted to be fulfilled and so the Department of Health, as the trustee if you like, on behalf of the state of New South Wales, is seeking to find a way of addressing that trust because it can no longer be run as a nursing home. We're trying to run it successfully as a nursing home particularly for dementia sufferers as some of your listeners will know. And the Tom O'Neill centre at Graythwaite is also a very valuable service on the site.
But in its old building, as you said yesterday, it just can't keep going. And so the state government tried, as you said just a moment ago, in '94/5 to propose a solution which could help the property to be developed and enable it to be retained as an old historic building. It needs at least a million, probably two million dollars, spent on it just to save the old house and grounds around it, just to restore it. So, we can't afford that and the government itself would have great difficulty doing that, so …
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LOANE:
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So, you're running it for the Health Department, are you?
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PHILIPS:
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Yes. We're the agents, if you like, the operating managers which have been running it since 1980 when we took it over from the Red Cross and it's been a public hospital. And in the last ten years it's been receiving Commonwealth funding as a Commonwealth funded nursing home which the state government is also seeking to find a way to get all of those sorts of nursing homes over to other operations, you know, so that they're not a part of the state health system.
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LOANE:
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So, do you have a deadline, you know, when you need to leave?
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PHILIPS:
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Not at the moment. It's still running and as long as we can keep it operating it's fully accredited as a nursing home and we hope to keep it that way. But it's very hard and our big problem is funds, and so that trust will have to find a way, whichever proposal is put up to the Supreme Court, as you were saying, the government will have to have a scheme which can be supported by the court.
In other words, whatever is going to be done it just can't be sold, as you implied. It can't be just sold off to developers.
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LOANE:
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No.
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PHILIPS:
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It would have to preserve both the heritage because it's now a heritage listed property and it would also have to preserve ... find a way of providing an income which would preserve the trust in some way, it might be in a slightly different form. And that's why, as Tim Hughes mentioned, one part of the scheme was to relocate its nursing care facility to another site in the near … near North Sydney and, of course, finding a property that could afford … who could afford to do that.
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LOANE:
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The worry for people who want to preserve Graythwaite is that it will be redeveloped and the grounds will be lost and there will be encroaching, you know, townhouses into this site.
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PHILIPS:
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That's right and that's the challenge and next door neighbours sure want to … are also very interested in the site as a number of residents around, including others who've been helping as Tim has on keeping the grounds and we're very grateful for their support. Because it's a big site for us to maintain.
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LOANE:
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Sure.
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PHILIPS:
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And we have, you know, residents of the home who can wander, so we have to keep them in a safe and secure environment up in the old house. So, it's a challenge for everybody and I think that's what we, and certainly the government I know and the Health Department and Northern Sydney Health, want to find a way that can achieve the objectives that won't alienate the old house. But remember that it has never been a public property in the sense it's always been subject to a trust when the Red Cross ran it and when we ran it, so …
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LOANE:
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Yeah, what do you think will happen in the near future?
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PHILIPS:
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Well, we're not … and I must say I'm not speaking on behalf of the Health Department, they've asked if I could say something, but they are developing further proposals, I understand, which we've been helping them with. But I'm not sure if they will get through at the moment. They're being...
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LOANE:
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Will they be made public?
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PHILIPS:
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Yes, I would suspect they will be, yes. And certainly, when they come to court, they will have to be ... you know, part of that proposal.
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LOANE:
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Yeah.
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PHILIPS:
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And we have worked closely with North Sydney Council over past years to try to keep involved with their local people and the interests of the residents. But it is a difficult challenge, and I guess no one is trying to do this in a way which will exploit people because it is a government trust. It's not something the government actually owns.
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LOANE:
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Mm.
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PHILIPS:
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You will know that some of the other old houses like the Walker Estate in Concord were similar. They have a trust. So, that's why it's so difficult. And politically, it has been a challenge ... (laughs)
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LOANE:
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All right. Well look, best of luck. We'll keep a ... try and keep across this issue, and try and ... I think transparency is the real issue here, because people who know and love this property want to make sure...
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PHILIPS:
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Yes.
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LOANE:
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... that it's not ruined in any way.
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PHILIPS:
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That's right.
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LOANE:
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Mm.
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PHILIPS:
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And I'm sure your listeners would want that. And because it's going to be ... take some time, it may or may not happen in the very near future, but that's where the position is at the moment.
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LOANE:
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All right. Well, thank you very much, Tim Philips.
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PHILIPS:
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Thanks, Sally.
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LOANE:
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Mr Philips is from the ... Hope Healthcare, which runs the nursing home, which is there in Graythwaite at the moment.
Look, we will keep abreast of this story because it's an interesting one. A lot of people know that property very, very well. Other people don't, of course, as Tim Hughes said yesterday. It's tucked away, very close to the centre of North Sydney, in these beautiful six hectare grounds ... you know, rainforest, all sorts of wonderful things there.
But we certainly have put the Health Department on notice we're interested in the story, we want to find out what their plans are, and we'll keep you abreast of that news.
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