State government will intervene to protect disabled residents of Abbeyfield House, which council wants to sell

The premier says the government will stop a council from selling the home of a “family” of people who live with intellectual disabilities.

Abbeyfield residents Cara Williams, Sarah Byrne, Jacob Milbank, Brendan Stone, Philip Humphries and Stuart Lee at their home Marion Council wants to sell. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

The state government will intervene to halt the sale of a property housing a “family” of people living with disabilites after the local council said it wanted to sell it.

Marion Council has proposed selling the land in the hope it would fix an ongoing dispute between the residents’ families and disability housing provider Abbeyfield Australia – which leases and manages the property.

But the families fear whoever buys the property could then sell it again, potentially splitting up the residents, who have lived together independently for 15 years and become a family and are now “very distressed” by the council’s plan.

Premier Peter Malinauskas said he had raised the issue at the highest levels of government and would “stop this from happening”.

“I don’t think these residents, who have an intellectual disability and enjoy the safety and the sense of community of being in this particular property, should be removed at all,” Mr Malinauskas told ABC Radio on Wednesday.

“We won’t be allowing that to happen and will be making sure that our agencies are getting engaged with the Marion Council to intervene here.”

Mr Malinauskas said the state government was exploring “options” on how best to intervene.

“We have got more than one option available to us,” he said.

“If we resolve the immediate question about any potential impacts of a sale, then we can focus on the service delivery which is what I’ve asked the Department of Human Services to intervene and look at.”

Speaking to FIVEaa, Mr Malinauskas said Marion Council needed state goverment approval to sell the land, which has a community title.

“For the Marion Council to realise any value out of it they would have revoke the way the land is categorised and that requires state government approval,” he said.

“We are going to intervene here and stop this sale from going ahead.”

Abbeyfield House residents and supporters hand over a petition to MP Frank Pangallo on the parliament steps to protest the sale of their home. Picture: Supplied

Mr Malinauskas said the state government wants to “work collaboratively” with Marion Council and Abbeyfield Australia, as the Department of Human services worked to find a solution.

“I want to be able to provide long-term certainty to those residents so they know that they can continue to call their place home, which is what matters to anybody in any set of circumstances let alone if you’re diagnosed with an intellectual disability.”

Marion Council Mayor Kris Hanna disputed concerns a property sale meant that the residents had to move out.

“We have already worked out something with the Housing Trust whereby they’ve said that they are happy,” Mr Hanna told FIVEaa.

“This might be overruled by the Premier now, but they are happy for the sale to a disability-focused accommodation provider, which is what Marion Council has proposed all along.

“The Housing Trust has been really good in co-operating with us, there is no threat to the residents there moving out and there never has been, so that’s the answer.”

Originally published as State government will intervene to protect disabled residents of Abbeyfield House, which council wants to sell