Minister Goward will be called to answer to the Glebe Community at a rally next Saturday, following the shock closure of the Glebe Youth Service’s premises on Glebe Point Road last week.

Glebe Youth Service (GYS) has delivered vital services to the community for decades but was last week locked out of its building following claims by the Land and Housing Corporation of fire and safety issues. There are strong concerns GYS will not be returned to the building and that this is the first step in selling off the building and evicting Glebe Youth Service altogether.

RALLY TO SAVE GLEBE YOUTH SERVICE:
When: 11am Saturday 14th December 2013
Where: Outside Glebe Markets – Glebe Public School, Glebe Point Road.

The rally will call on Minister Goward to ensure Glebe Youth Service is returned to its home at 84 Glebe Point Road.

Greens MP Jamie Parker said:

“This closure has already seriously impacted the community, removing vital services without notice or consultation.

“Glebe Youth Service has been delivering vital programs for 28 years and it is absolutely outrageous that it has been locked out of its premises and now faces an uncertain future.

“The Glebe community needs this service and we will not allow its home on Glebe Point Road to be sold off to the highest bidder instead of being dedicated to delivering services for the community. 

“This is about government greed winning out over community needs: the former Labor government underfunded public housing and allowed it to fall into disrepair and now the Liberal government is locking out kids and selling off precious public assets buildings - it’s a disgrace.

 “The Minister must guarantee this building will not be sold and will continue to be used for the youth of Glebe, particularly for the local Aboriginal community through services including a drop in centre, free meals, education programs, crime aversion programs and counselling.

“Whilst safety concerns are paramount, the urgency of this forced closure is due to the negligence of the Land and Housing Corporation, which should have identified any safety issues long ago if it had been properly monitoring the safety of this building.

“I have spoken to the Land and Housing Corporation and urgently requested a copy of the fire safety report as well as evidence of any previous reports, but so far the Corporation has failed to provide these,” Mr Parker said.