Concerns for people with disabilities as Stonnington council moves to sell Fisher Street care centre in malvern East
There are fears the lives of vulnerable adults with disabilities will be disrupted after the City of Stonnington council voted to sell a valuable piece of land used by a much-loved disability center and food bank in Melbourne’s south-east.
Thirty-six adults with disabilities attend Fisher Street Center in Malvern East for care and activities, and over the decades the center has grown into a close-knit community that families say gives their loved ones purpose.
However, after the council unanimously approved the sale this month, the building will be closed, the building will be demolished and the land will be divided.
Elena Christie’s brother Damien, 55, has a high level of disability and feared he might become non-verbal if the center closed as he progressed down this path before first applying about a year ago.
Damien goes to school four days a week and Christie said her brother has become noticeably more talkative and active since making so many friends there.
“Damien is actually going to lose probably the most important thing to him from his outside perspective on life,” Christie said.
“I know it sounds far-fetched, but his reason for living may be completely irrelevant – I can see a major collapse in Damien’s life.”
Damien’s father, Peter, looks after his wife Jean, who is on dialysis, and their son.
Christians fear that when the center closes Damien will have to stay at home watching TV all day instead of attending events because the alternative NDIS services the council has highlighted are not suitable for his needs.
For years, care provider Mecwacare paid the city a peppercorn rent to use the building for disability programs, including life skills such as cooking, money management, communication and other activities. The center is also used by the Malvern Emergency Food Programme.
‘Don’t take this from them. ‘They have nothing in their lives but each other.’
Application to the City of Stonnington regarding the closure of Fisher Street Centre.
Council documents say there is “low utilization” among Stonnington residents as only four people participating in disability programs lived in the council in mid-2025.
At last Monday’s council meeting, councilor Jami Klisaris said it was a very difficult decision to sell the land but it was not an area Stonnington could use.
He said the council was re-evaluating old agreements in a “tightly constrained budget environment” and that the rent paid to the council for the facility was actually $10 a year.
“At the end of the day, the City of Stonnington is not an NDIS provider,” Klisaris said.
The land originally consisted of two separate blocks, each measuring around 655 square metres, and although the value of each block has not been publicly disclosed, a four-bedroom property in a similar sized block nearby sold for more than $3.6 million in April 2025.
Proceeds from the sale of Fisher Street Center will be transferred to the municipality’s future fund for infrastructure projects.
Last year the council received 44 submissions regarding the proposed sale, with the majority opposing the move.
“Don’t sell out, this is my favorite place in the world,” one attendee said in his presentation.
One worker wrote: “Don’t take it from them. They have nothing in their lives but each other.”
‘At the end of the day the City of Stonnington is not an NDIS provider.’
City of Stonnington councilor Jami Klisaris
Some family members of participants said they would have to reduce or stop working to care for their loved ones and were stressed by the difficulty of finding alternative services.
Deirdre McNally, who lives nearby, said she wished the center would remain that way, but hoped it could become a community center when used for another purpose.
“Selling something like this just to make money is just a slap in the face,” said McNally.
Steven Lambert, Mecwacare’s general manager of customer experience and growth, said the council offered the service provider the chance to buy the land but Mecwacare’s capital was “entirely allocated elsewhere” and was therefore rejected.
Stonnington Mayor Melina Sehr said the council was carefully considering a range of options, including ways to support ongoing services on Fisher Street.
Sehr said there was no proposal to increase the rent because Mecwacare had already indicated its intention to transfer the service to another outside provider.
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Rachael Ward is a journalist on The Age’s City team. Contact her at rachael.ward@theage.com.auConnect via email.
