Families are hoping disability employment provider Bedford Group can be saved to protect the jobs and livelihoods of more than 1,000 South Australian workers who rely on its service.<\/p>\n
SA Premier Peter Malinauskas said Bedford’s financial position was so “dire” that without a loan, the organisation would inevitably lead to liquidation “by the end of this week if not sooner”.<\/p>\n
“Does anyone seriously think we should sit on our hands and let this hit the fans, and 1,400-1,500 people have their worlds turned upside who were really vulnerable? I just wasn’t going to let that happen,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Jurisdiction responsibilities become a second order of consideration than just doing the right thing.”<\/p>\n
He told ABC Radio Adelaide advisory firm McGrathNicol had been appointed to work with Bedford on a restructure and “stem the losses” in excess of $1 million per month.<\/p>\n
“If that can happen, maybe there is future for Bedford to stand on its own two feet,” he said.<\/p>\n
Premier Peter Malinauskas and Bedford chair Janet Miller announced the loan on Sunday (ABC News: Trent Murphy)<\/p>\n
Mr Malinauskas said the loan helped saved the Balyana facility, which houses 40 residents but was “essentially at end of life or fast approaching them”.<\/p>\n
“By us purchasing it, we achieved two things; one we protected the taxpayers’ interests as part of this rescue package because it now [has] an asset,” he said.<\/p>\n
“The second thing is it allows for more thoughtful and compassionate planning around those supported accommodation residents on that facility and a plan for a transition into the future rather than just a overnight liquidation set of circumstances.”<\/p>\n
Treasurer Stephen Mullighan said on Sunday the loan and the transfer of ownership of the Balyana site were “a good way to structure this support, rather than just providing a cash grant with no recourse for the taxpayers in the future”.<\/p>\n
He added that there would be conditions imposed on how the loan was spent.<\/p>\n
“It won’t be a single deposit tomorrow of $15 million and then Bedford has free and unfettered access to it,” he said.<\/p>\n
Martin Mcdermott was glad he can continue to work at Bedford. (ABC News)<\/p>\n
For now, staff working at Bedford’s Panorama location are happy to continue going to work.<\/p>\n
“It’s such amazing news I want to thank Peter so much for stepping in to save us from this, fingers crossed Canberra does the same for us too,” she said.<\/p>\n
“It means the world to me this place, it helps a lot of people with disability here.<\/p>\n
“I love seeing my friends here, and I love helping people out, especially making food.”<\/p>\n
“I feel good about coming back to work,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
he said.![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/722a3f0f1a32d9e51900651eb2c43fdb\")
<\/p>\n
Bedford veteran of 25 years, Kirsty Campbell, was happy to be at work. (ABC Eyre Peninsula: Emma Pedler)<\/p>\n
Sharon Campbell’s daughter Kirsty, who has been with Bedford at Port Lincoln for 25 years, was worried she would have to look for another job.<\/p>\n
The mother said Kirsty was “a very routine person” and was heartened to learn her life would continue as normal on Monday.<\/p>\n
“Kirsty is off to work today with her friends, doing what she loves and we don’t have to worry as much about the future, in the near distance any way, we can breathe a sigh of relief,” Ms Campbell said.<\/p>\n
“Kirsty working there means she’s feeling valued and important within the community and it gives her a feeling of self-worth and a quality of life that she really enjoys.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Stevens has been working at Bedford Industries for almost two decades, but in the past few days,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":98413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[5672,63132,64,64411,64408,64409,43339,420,54716,64410,63135,67,132,68,64412],"class_list":{"0":"post-98412","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-administration","9":"tag-bedford-industries","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-david-stevens","12":"tag-disability-employer","13":"tag-disability-workers","14":"tag-financial-support","15":"tag-jobs","16":"tag-loan","17":"tag-rescue-package","18":"tag-sa-government","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-wayne-stevens"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114928862665100266","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}