NOW PUBLISHED WEEKLY TO SERVE THE LOCAL COMMUNITY
Chelsea – Mordialloc
FOOD & ENTERTAINMENT
PAGES 18–19 CLASSIFIEDS
PAGES 20–21 SPORTS DESK
An independent voice for the community
Your WEEKLY community newspaper covering Carrum to Mentone For all your advertising and editorial needs, call us on 1300
Family ties
THREE generations of the Costolloe family are members at Edithvale Bowling Club. Ray, Raymond Jnr, David and Jason all compete in club pennant competitions. See Page 7. Picture: Gary Sissons
Features inside
FREE
PAGES 22–23 25 September – 1 October 2013
MPNEWS (1300 676 397) or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au
Bonds lost as home goes bust
By Neil Walker THE families of elderly relatives at an aged care home in Mentone have lost large sums of money after the business went bust. Mentone Gardens went into voluntary administration in June and creditors have been advised there is little chance more than $4 million in money handed over to the former owners of the business would be recovered. ABC News reported more than 30 creditors who attended a meeting held by administrator Mathew Gollant of Foremans Business Services earlier this month were informed money paid as bonds to secure residency at Mentone Gardens for elderly relatives had effectively disappeared. Aged care placement consultant Aged Care Connect said it first became aware of financial issues at Mentone Gardens in April when it was hired by the family of a recently deceased relative to try to recover bond money paid to the owners. Mentone Gardens was operated by Parklane Assets, a company owned by Gela and William Newitt. “At the time I thought it was going to be straightforward but it took a long time to get in touch with the owners,” Aged Care Connect managing director Ron Carroll told The News. When I eventually spoke with Gela Newitt
she told me the business was in trouble.” Mr Carroll said bond money should have been put into a trust account, but state government legislation at the time did not make this mandatory. He understood most families had paid a bond of about $300,000 per person in care at the Mentone hospice. Mentone Gardens was a state governmentregulated supported residential service, registered with and monitored by the Victorian Department of Health. In July last year, Victorian Health and Ageing Minister David Davis advised new laws provided “new financial protections” to SRS residents, including the requirement that bond money be held in a trust account. This requirement, effective as part of the new laws that came into effect from 1 July 2012, seems to have provided no retrospective protection to Mentone Gardens residents. A Department of Health spokesperson said they had discovered there was financial problems at Mentone Gardens at the start of this year but once a company goes into administration, investigations are taken over by the administrator. “Our role is to ensure residents continue to receive appropriate care and services are ongoing,” the spokesperson said. Continued Page 7