We talked to Magdalena Jaskulska from Tygodnik Polski and Lucyna Artymiuk from the Polish Museum and Archives in Australia about moving out of the Millennium House.
In 2018, Polish House Millennium in Melbourne, owned by the Association of Kingsville and Ladies Auxilary Inc. was transferred to AMCS (Australian Multicultural Community Services Inc.) Since receiving ownership of Millennium house, ACMS was planning to renovate house. Renovations after some delays are about to start in February 2022.
Residing in the Millennium House for around 20 years are two polish organisations, the Polish Museum and Archives in Australia and the Polish Weekly. In January 2019 both organisations have received letter that they have to vacate premises but because of pandemic this was postponed until December 2021. In October they received a notice to vacate, in line with Victorian Tenancy laws requiring 60-days notice.
We have interviewed Magdalena Jaskulska from Tygodnik Polski (Polish Weekly) and Lucyna Artymiuk from the Polish Museum and Archives in Australia about moving out of the Millennium House.
Following our invitation to comment AMCS responded with a written reply:
"..In response to the content of the interview conducted on December 19, 2021 by Dariusz Buchowiecki with Mrs. Jaskulska from Tygodnik Polski and Mrs. Arytmiuk from the Museum and Archives of the Australian Polonia, we state the following:
...The interviewer suggested that the AMCS should assist both the above-mentioned persons and institutions in the moving, and AMCS does not provide such assistance...
...we inform the public that the renovation of the Millennium House will be a major renovation and every wall inside the building will be removed. Renovation is necessary because ceilings and walls contain asbestos, which is poisonous to humans. Therefore, organizations renting premises there must leave the building. The notification about the necessity to leave the building was sent in a timely manner, in accordance with applicable regulations...
...we would like to inform you that AMCS allocates funds only to the services of our clients, who are elderly, often sick and lonely people. It would be a violation of the law to use these funds, which we persistently seek, for something other than the aforementioned purpose, such as relocations of other organizations or redemption of tenants' rent...
...in this difficult period of the pandemic, our main problem and duty is to provide assistance and organize the work of AMCS in such a way that neither a significant number of customers nor 230 employees (including 72 Polish employees) are exposed to contracting the virus. This is our main goal, not the moving out of other organizations..."
Below are some photos from Millennium House...
