Ladies and gentlemen, it’s really wonderful to be back at Cabanda, thank you for your generous welcome to me this morning.

Some of you may remember the last time I was here

incredibly over five years ago now

when I was Queensland Governor

I took part in a ceremony that acknowledged the outstanding efforts of your marvellous volunteers.

People who dedicated so much of themselves – their hearts, minds, and physical stamina – to the humane and tender care of the ageing members of Cabanda.

People who understood and cherished the essence of a good life, at any age and stage.

People who knew the instrinsic worth of friendship and warm exchange; comfort and touch; human happiness and dignity.

People who modelled community caring.

That is the story of Cabanda:

volunteerism

community caring

a local community stepping up to take responsibility for the wellbeing of its ageing citizens, and committing to the task for the long term

a partnership with the Rosewood community that has delivered vital residential aged care, day respite, and home-based services over the past 23 years

and whose success is so evident today in the opening of your new high care facility wing.

What endures at Cabanda is an ethos of respectful, flexible, life-affirming care designed to respond to the needs and aspirations of the individuals who live within its fold.

I was reading recently about the work of Dr Hans Becker, the Chair of the Humanitas Foundation in the Netherlands.

He has become internationally renown for his development of the Apartments for Life model of housing and care for older people.

Dr Becker talks about human happiness.

That is the business we’re in, he says, not ‘cure and care’.

Last year when he toured Australia, he spoke about Happiness the Becker Way:

To be a person amongst people, you need to meet people, mingle, share something.

The attention needs to be taken away from people’s handicaps and instead focused on what people can do and what they enjoy.

I know this is very much the Cabanda way too.

You have known for a long time what studies are only now confirming – that respect is a key factor determining the  quality of life of older people:

their life satisfaction

sense of usefulness

and involvement with community and loved ones.

Indeed, these things are central to all of us and we must as a society work to ensure:

that they are preserved and insisted upon

that we hold onto human happiness.

Friends, it fills me with such joy and hope to be here with you today.

To acknowledge your sustained work and leadership, and the potential of this place to bring joy and hope to so many lives.

And to commend the worthy and proper care of older Australians.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to now declare open Cabanda’s high care facility wing.

And, with Longfellow’s words, to simply rejoice in ageing:

For age is opportunity no less

Than youth itself, though in another dress,

And as the evening twilight fades away

The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.

Friends, thank you.