Visit to Multicap Services and Official Opening of Ford House

Kaye and I are delighted to be with you today and, as Patron of Multicap, I am very pleased to join Minister O’Rouke in officially opening the new Ford House.

The name of the Reverend Stanley Bruce Ford is integral to the history of Multicap. As the father of a child with multiple disabilities, he became a passionate advocate for change in the nineteen-sixties, a contribution which was honoured by giving his name to the very first facility constructed on this site, forty years ago this year.

It is very pleasing to see Multicap acknowledge Reverend Ford’s lifelong dedication to this cause by continuing that tradition and naming this splendid new facility ‘Ford House’.

That decision not only acknowledges the Fords and the other founding families, but pays tribute to the many, many donors, corporate partners and volunteers whose contributions to Multicap have helped make this latest project possible.

The new Ford House would also not have been possible without the support of the Queensland Government.

This major partnership through the Department of Communities has enabled Multicap to realise the state-of-the-art design concepts developed in collaboration with the Faculty of Creative Industries at the Queensland University of Technology. The result is a facility specifically tailored for individuals with complex needs — a facility which will give them the best possible chance of turning their lives around.

The new Ford House is a fitting symbol of the reputation which Multicap enjoys today as a State-wide organisation providing services for more than six hundred Queensland families through over sixty facilities.

It is also a symbol of Multicap’s ongoing gratitude to donors, sponsors and volunteers.

Together, they have created a strong circle of support for the individuals afflicted by multiple disabilities — ‘in all ways and always’, as Multicap’s slogan so powerfully reminds us.

It is my great pleasure to shortly join Minister O’Rourke in cutting the ribbon and officially declaring ‘Ford House’ open.