Hansard debates

                         MacKILLOP FAMILY SERVICES BILL
                                 Second reading

  Hon. R. I. KNOWLES (Minister for Health) -- I move:
That this bill be now read a second time.
A new  Catholic child, youth and family services organisation,  MacKillop Family
Services,  came into existence in  July 1997. MacKillop  Family Services Ltd was
incorporated under the Corporations Law of Victoria on 28  April 1997. MacKillop
Family Services  is  a shared ministry  of  three Catholic congregations  -- the
Christian Brothers, the Sisters of Mercy and the Sisters of St Joseph.
Included in the new organisation are:

        Christian Brothers  Child, Youth and  Family Services  (incorporating St
        Augustine's  Family and Adolescent  Services, Geelong; St Joseph's Homes
        for Children, Flemington; St Vincent's Boys Home, South Melbourne);
        Mercy Family  Care Centre, North Geelong;  St Vincent de  Paul Child and
        Family Services, Black Rock; and
        St Anthony's Family Services,  Footscray;  St Joseph's Babies and Family
        Services, Glenroy.
The movement towards amalgamation was prompted by  the mutual conviction of  the
three religious congregations that:
        the  biblical  idea  of justice  continually  challenges  Christians  to
        respond to the poor and those in need;

        the  congregations   should  respond  to  the  needs  of  the  poor  and
        disadvantaged with  renewed  energy, informed  and strengthened by  good
        research, policy development and advocacy; and
        the  church,  in  the  Catholic  tradition,  should  continue  to  be  a
        disturbing, prophetic voice in today's society.
MacKillop Family Services continues the traditions and further develops the work
of  the  seven  agencies.   MacKillop   is   a  significant  community  services
organisation in Victoria, with an expenditure budget of more than $12 million in
the  current financial  year. It has a client  base exceeding  2000 and  has 300
professional and support staff assisted by hundreds of volunteers.
The agencies  have had  a long  history of service to children, young people and
families throughout the Victorian community.

Over the years there have  been a  number of  changes of  auspice and  location.
Significant changes in service provision have also taken place.
Melbourne's first  Catholic  orphanage, the St  Vincent de Paul  orphanage,  was
established in 1855. It remains on 
its original South Melbourne site although significantly changed from its former
large congregate care campus.
St Vincent de Paul Child and Family  Service  (Black Rock) is directly descended
from the  St Vincent de Paul orphanage. In 1861 the Sisters of Mercy established
a separate girls orphanage on an adjoining block of  land. In  1966 the  sisters
transferred to Black Rock and developed group homes and other services.
The Geelong Catholic orphanage of St Augustine's was founded in 1857.

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It moved to Highton in 1939 and to its current location in Whittington in 1988.
The Sisters of  Mercy established  an orphanage  in Geelong in 1862. It moved to
Newtown  in 1884 and later became  known as St Catherine's.  In 1928 it moved to
Highton and in 1975 was relocated to its present site at North Geelong and named
Mercy Family Care to reflect changes to its model of working.
St   Joseph's  Babies  and  Family  Services  (Glenroy)  is   derived  from  the
Broadmeadows foundling home established by the Sisters  of St Joseph in 1901. It
relocated to Glenroy in 1975 with the change  from  institutional care to foster
care and family support services.
St Anthony's  Home for  Children in Kew  was established  by the  Sisters of  St
Joseph in 1922 to look after toddlers from the foundling home in Broadmeadows.

The  orphanage  at  Kew  closed  in  1976  and  St  Anthony's  commenced  a  new
community-based,  family-centred  program  in  the  western  suburbs,  where  it
continues to operate from its base in Footscray.
This long history of change in auspices, locations and service models has led to
possible problems in establishing connections between those differently located,
differently  named  institutions  and  the  work  currently being  conducted  by
MacKillop.  This  legislation  will  effectively establish  that  all  bequests,
donations and trusts which were  previously  to  be applied to a congregation or
its agencies shall now be applied to MacKillop.
Trustees and  others will be  satisfied  that MacKillop Family  Services  Ltd is
properly carrying out the charitable works previously conducted by the Christian
Brothers, the Josephites and the Sisters of Mercy at various locations over many
years.

The purposes of this bill are:
        to provide for  the vesting in MacKillop  of certain property given  for
        charitable purposes to the Christian Brothers, the Sisters of Mercy, the
        Sisters  of  St Joseph  and  certain agencies in  connection  with those
        services;
        to provide that certain gifts and  trusts for charitable purposes do not
        fail but  have effect  as if  made  or  declared  to  or  in  favour  of
        MacKillop; and
        to enable MacKillop to establish investment  pools  for  the  collective
        investment of trust funds for charitable purposes.

Under  the governance of the three religious congregations  the new organisation
is  providing a greater flexibility and range of  services, ongoing research and
more  powerful  advocacy for disadvantaged  children,  young  people  and  their
families.
I commend the bill to the house.
Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. M. M. GOULD (Doutta Galla).
Debate adjourned until next day.