STRENGTHENING LOCAL COMMUNITIES CONFERENCE

Mrs GERAGHTY (Torrens) (15:03): My question is to the Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion. Can the minister update the house on some of the outcomes of the 2013 Strengthening Local Communities Conference?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light—Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, Minister for Social Housing, Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers) (15:03): I thank the honourable member for her question. Last month I officially opened the Strengthening Local Communities Conference at the Woodcroft Community Centre. The conference provided an excellent opportunity for representatives from community centres across South Australia to share ideas and exchange information on the collective impact approach to addressing ideas around the wellbeing of children, families and neighbourhoods.

The collective impact approach—or 'promise neighbourhoods', as it is known in the United States of America—starts with community conversations about what is important to people locally, with all interested parties agreeing to goals, actions and ways to measure progress. I understand that internationally the collective impact approach has brought together people from local communities, government, business and other groups to improve educational outcomes for young people, reduce crime rates, address poverty and improve health and wellbeing in local communities.

Participants were fortunate enough to hear from the key guest speaker, Dr Michael McAfee, who is the director of Promise Neighbourhood—Investing in Every Child, Cradle to Career, from San Francisco. Dr McAfee spoke about the importance of results-based accountability, performance indicators and agreed actions, and how these tools can support collective impact efforts at a community level.

I am pleased to see that here in South Australia many community centres and organisations have been working together to embrace a similar approach. I would especially like to acknowledge the contribution and work undertaken by Community Centres SA, the peak organisation which has proven to be a leader in forming a strategy around implementing a collective approach in South Australia.

Community centres act as a focal point for the delivery of many services that support the most vulnerable in our community. The Gawler Community House, for example, in my own home town of Gawler is an example of a community centre working for their local community. They run an op shop to raise funds and deliver IT skills and literacy courses to assist people who actively participate in work and community life, amongst many other programs and activities.

To this end, I was pleased to announce at the conference that the state government will contribute $80,000 over the next two years to support Community Centres SA's Together SA initiative. The Together SA alliance will provide opportunities for the community to work in partnership with the non-government sector and with government to create sustainable improvements on complex social issues like wellbeing, health, housing and community safety, and to increase participation, capacity and resilience of communities.