Aboriginal Medical Service
Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney Response
Aboriginal Medical Service
There have been articles that appeared in the media yesterday and today regarding the Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS), currently operating on the site of the St Vincent de Paul parish at Redfern.
As you know, the parish has a long history of ministry and care to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, including the celebrated work of the late Father Ted Kennedy.
One part of this is the AMS, which has been present on the parish grounds for more than 50 years and is currently provided to AMS rent-free.
For several years, AMS has requested that this space not just be provided rent-free but be gifted to the AMS.
This proposal was investigated but was found to be impractical because the former school building currently occupied by AMS is not free-standing and transferring ownership to AMS would require a very complex subdivision.
AMS did provide a subdivision report to the Archdiocese as a proposed way forward, however, the report addressed heritage and planning issues only. The report did not account for fire separation, compliance or egress, or for other users of the site, including parishioners, visiting clergy and teachers and students of Jarjum College, an independent primary school supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who are not thriving in mainstream education.
For five decades now the ownership structure has not affected the provision of services by AMS. It has been able to offer much-needed assistance to the community since the 1970s and the parish and the Archdiocese are committed to this continuing.
The effective care of our Aboriginal brothers and sisters is vitally important, and the continued provision of the site to AMS on a rent-free basis supports this care.
Sadly but unsurprisingly, the reports did not reflect this, preferring instead to paint the Archdiocese as refusing a request for assistance.
This is untrue. And there were too many other inaccuracies in the report to refute here.
The truth is that AMS has been able to continue its work on site uninterrupted for decades. To provide the security of tenure and certainty of costs AMS needs to plan for its future, the Archdiocese has offered to provide a ten-year, rent-free lease with an option to continue beyond that time. This would provide the security needed by AMS while accommodating parishioners, clergy, staff and students who share the site. While AMS is yet to accept this offer, we are confident that they will find it caters to their needs and desires. But the Herald article gives an entirely false version of these negotiations.
Disappointingly, articles like this attempt to find or create division where none exists. The support of the work of AMS from the parish of Redfern and the Archdiocese more broadly remains steadfast.
In addition to the provisions for AMS, our Aboriginal Catholic Ministry caters specifically to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of all faiths and none, our Catholic schools offer many scholarships and programs to students from these communities, and our parishes, health and welfare agencies are available to all.
We are enormously proud of the work done by so many staff and volunteers of the Church in Sydney and beyond, who steward our resources well for the service of the most vulnerable. We are grateful also for the generosity of the faithful over so many years that has enabled the Church to provide a place of hope and help to those who are in need in Redfern.