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Tuesday, November 2, 2021
.com.au
& Living pages 17 – 32
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Musos in the ‘maine Much of the region's live music muscle will be headed to Castlemaine this month for a debut threeday music conference aimed at helping the industry rebound from COVID-19. Music Victoria’s Fionna Allan is pictured (at front) with local musicians and music industry professionals in Castlemaine last week ahead of this month's debut Gold Sounds conference. Photo: Eve Lamb Full story, page 8.
RM BEGG SEEKS WHITE KNIGHT Angela Crawford
modation Deposits, but in the current economic climate, interest earned on those was declining in line with historically low interest rates. He said RM Begg needed a cash injection of about $3M. "The number one thing we're trying to do is to stand alone, but it's more likely we would need to find a like-minded partner," he said. "Revenue from our independent living units is performing well but the facility itself is not. "Our block of flats cover their costs and donations last year were better than previous years but our investments are
significantly down because interest rates are so low." Mr Irvine said independent small-scale aged-care operators across Australia were all facing similar challenges. "Fifty-four per cent of independent homes nationally are running at a loss," he said. "Ultimately the aged-care model requires scale ... we need a bigger facility to absorb the costs." Mr Irvine said the board planned to go out into the market to identify a suitable partner in the next three to six months. "We've got about a year to a year and a half to shore up our position," he said.
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Kyneton aged-care provider RM Begg may be unable to continue operating as an independent facility next year as it faces increased year-on-year operating losses. The community owned not-for-profit facility reported an operating loss of $1.5M for the last financial year, up from a loss of $600,000 in 2020. Board chair Phillip Irvine acknowledged losses over the past four years, coupled with increasing operating costs, meant the board was forced to consider a merger with another operator. "The board's commitment is to do
everything we can to uphold RM Begg's vision and the great service that is unquestionably the best aged-care service in the area," Mr Irvine said. "We're not trading insolvent, we're trading at a loss, but we can't continue to sustain these losses driving us deeper into debt." RM Begg has received a generous response from the community to fundraising efforts but the organisation would welcome a white knight to rescue it from its dire financial position. Mr Irvine said government funding of the sector was supplemented by interest earned on invested Refundable Accom-