DISABILITY SERVICES (RIGHTS, PROTECTION AND INCLUSION) AMENDMENT BILL

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 12 September 2013.)

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (16:17): I indicate that the Liberal Party will be supporting this bill without amendment. I am the lead speaker on this bill, and I just thank the minister and his staff, particularly Peter Hoppo and Joe Young, on their cooperation. The level of consultation on this bill has been exceptional for the Labor government in the nearly 12 years I have been in this place. There have been a number of round tables, consultation with a broad range of groups or stakeholders, and they have been to see me privately in my office, as well as that I had the opportunity to attend a roundtable meeting at Greenhill Road about a fortnight ago.

It has been extremely pleasing to see what I said at the Novita walk in the park at the Botanic Gardens about a month or so ago—that is, if you cannot be bipartisan on disabilities, where can you be bipartisan—being supported. It is a pleasure to stand here. I suppose if there were any downsides, it has taken longer than all of us would have liked to reach this stage, but it is here now, and let us see what we can do to make sure that the bill goes through this place and the other place without too much further delay.

The bill itself introduces safeguards and a complaints policy, and amends the act to provide a legal service and remedy in the event of victimisation by providers of disability services. The amendment gives the minister the ability to review funded services or activities and introduces regulations accordingly. The bill also introduces the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as a set of best practice principles to guide policy development, funding decisions and the administration and provision of disability services.

This is a good piece of legislation that is going to expand the protections for people with disabilities. There were some people who raised the issue of mandatory reporting with me, and I know the Hon. Kelly Vincent in the other place has certainly put in private member's legislation for mandatory reporting for people with disabilities. My requests for information from the minister were received and met with a lot of good information and cooperation.

I spoke to parliamentary counsel about this issue and we are convinced that if we are going to go down the path of mandatory reporting—and I think there is a real opportunity to do that—it should not be in this piece of legislation, so we will not be moving any amendments here. I cannot speak for other parties, but the Liberal Party in the other place will not be doing so either.

Having said all of that, I would just like to go back 10 years to my history in this place of having promoted the rights and protections of people with disabilities, particularly children with disabilities. I thought I had only asked former premier Rann about the protection of children with disabilities from sexual predators and abuse once or twice, but it turns out that I raised it eight times in this place, as questions and in grievance debates, during the period of September 2003 through to June 2004.

So, it was 10 years ago this month that I started raising the issue of the protections that are required. I will just read some of the responses the then premier Rann gave this place. My question to the then premier on 15 September 2003 was:

Will the Premier request the Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide to release the results of the inquiry into the sexual abuse of children at St Ann’s Special School so that the report can be tabled in this parliament?

The then premier Rann replied:

I thank the honourable member for his question. I understand the honourable member has been in contact with family members of those people who are involved. This is obviously a terrible thing that has occurred and I would be more than happy to raise the issue with the Catholic Archbishop.

The issues and concerns continued on, as I said, from September 2003 to June 2004. This is why I am a bit puzzled why the government is in the pickle that it is. On 13 October 2004 I asked the then premier whether he had spoken with the Catholic Archbishop, and in his response, the Hon. M.D. Rann, then premier of the state, said:

I think that I have already publicly addressed this matter—

I do believe he had, but he then went on to say:

The abuse of a child is among the most grotesque of crimes, and it is absolutely abhorrent to me and, I am sure, every member of this house. Children, and in particular children with disabilities, are highly vulnerable and deserve to be safe in the company of the adults who carry the responsibility for them.

The then premier Rann was certainly highlighting to this house, to all members in this place, and to the general public that the need to protect the most vulnerable, particularly children and children with disabilities, was absolutely paramount. That was on 13 October 2003—10 years ago.

In a grievance debate on 22 October 2003, I pointed out the fact that we need to be able to point the finger at the people responsible for despicable acts of paedophilia and sexual abuse of vulnerable members of society. That is what this bill is helping to do; it is helping to strengthen the reporting processes and the whole of the protocols that are in place.

Back in 2003, Channel 7's Today Tonight aired a program that revealed some startling revelations that were made about government cover-ups, which included the shredding of government documents. That was back then—10 years ago—and I would hate to think that that sort of thing is happening now. This issue of child abuse has been rolling on for 10 years.

I asked another question on 23 February 2004 as to whether the then premier had received a copy of the Catholic Church's inquiry into child abuse. The premier said that he had had a conversation with the Catholic Archbishop, and the premier promised to continue to investigate the tabling of that document in this place. On 31 March 2004, when the Anglican Church's Board of Inquiry report was tabled in this place, I asked the then premier whether he would ensure the Catholic Church also table its report at the earliest moment, and still, that was something that dragged on and on. Again, on 28 June 2004, I asked the then premier:

...what reasons has the Catholic Archbishop given you for not tabling in parliament a copy of the report...

The premier said that it was in the public domain and, therefore, subject to full rigorous public scrutiny—that is not my understanding and that was not the understanding of the parents of the children involved. There was an absolute need 10 years ago and there is today to make sure that we are protecting the most vulnerable people in our society—not just the children but particularly, in this case, the children with disabilities. That is where I hope this bill goes forward to in offering the extra protection that people with disabilities of all ages—not just children—deserve and should be getting. I did a grieve on child protection in this place on 31 May 2004, and I said:

What we have seen here is an absolute breach of trust. People in organisations that cover up or perpetrate any acts of sexual abuse or misconduct, particularly against children but also against others, should be exposed. They should be condemned and further scrutinised.

That is what we need to do. There is a committee being formed this afternoon, I think, in the other place, that will be continuing to scrutinise and examine the concerns that are currently going on with the abuse of some young people in South Australia.

I raised this for the eighth time in this place on 24 June 2004. I did a grieve about child abuse, and I pointed out that the Catholic Church's report had been released then. The report was some 30 pages long and it raised a lot of questions. Questions had been raised by parents of the children who were subjects of the report. The report was compiled by Mr Brian Hayes QC. The parents told me, and I said in this grieve, that Mr Hayes was given fairly tight instructions to act on and to report on.

I know today, because one of them does some part-time work in my office as a volunteer JP, that the parents are still very unhappy about the levels of exposure that were revealed way back then, to the point where, in September 2011—two years ago—Four Corners did a story on the abuse of the young kids at St Ann's Special School and, again, in October, did a follow-up on that.

I use the example of the St Ann's issues just to remind everybody in this place that we need to make sure that we are protecting the most vulnerable people, that we are protecting our children and making sure that the predators who are out there—and they are always out there—are going to be put under scrutiny and put under observation and that they are going to be caught and punished. We need to make sure that anybody who feels that they need to report abuse is going to be protected.

This bill goes a long way to doing that. As for the issue of mandatory reporting, as I said, we will come back to this place and we will keep talking to the minister about it. I will conclude by saying I would like to thank the minister for his level of cooperation—it is a rare thing in this place—and I look forward to seeing this bill pass without any further delay.

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (16:28): It gives me some pleasure to be able to speak today on the Disability Services (Rights, Protection and Inclusion) Amendment Bill. I have been waiting for this opportunity for some time, as I just want to briefly outline to the house.

The history of this bill goes back a long way, of course. It is an amendment to the 1993 Disability Services Act, so it is an act that has been in place for 20 years. It was important at the time, but it was rushed in a sense in order to enable the state to access commonwealth funding to assist these services, which was important, but it was not a perfect act and it has needed some attention. I am pleased that today we are able to give it some attention.

Over the past 20 years, there have been a number of things that have changed. In the late nineties, under the Brown and Olsen governments, there was progress. The Hon. Robert Lawson QC, a former minister for disabilities from another house, made some significant steps forward towards individualised funding, and the society and community has a better appreciation of how people with a disability should be able to access government services and the tension between service-based mentalities and rights-based mentalities in how these matters are dealt with.

Governments do provide a service and have done for some time, and that is important but, whether it is from a framework of how much the government can afford to spend or from a framework of what is the right of the individual who is receiving that service, that is where the tension can sometimes play. And where there are limited funds the tension then becomes: does everyone receive an inadequate service or do those who are fortunate enough to be able to access the service receive that service based on the human rights that they should have? Of course, that means fewer or more inadequate services for those who miss out.

Consequently, we have situations, such as at the moment, where there are hundreds of people on waiting lists. There have been waiting lists for a long time, I will acknowledge that. From time to time, governments bring good programs or extra services to the house, and this is something that is not unique to this government or the one before. We all run for these parliaments because we want to make a contribution. Nobody comes into parliament thinking, 'I don't want people to have services.' We all try to do what we can, and it is a matter of priorities from there. In the nineties, as I say, I particularly acknowledge the work of the Hon. Robert Lawson as the minister.

Throughout the last decade I think that it would be churlish not to acknowledge that the advent of political organisations for groups in the disability sector has probably brought forward strong steps as well. I pay credit to those involved in running for parliament with the Dignity for Disabled group, now Dignity for Disability, which started before the 2006 election and was successfully elected to parliament in 2010. I particularly note (in addition to the representative for that group, Kelly Vincent, who does a good job in the upper house on behalf of her constituents) Dr Paul Collier, who I think has regularly been acknowledged in this place as a significant contributor in this area of public policy.

While we appreciate the work that our colleague in the other place, Kelly Vincent, does, I think we all would have loved to have had the opportunity to serve with Dr Collier. It is a great shame that he never had that opportunity, but his legacy is through the election of the Hon. Kelly Vincent, and we appreciate that. That was in 2006. In July 2008 Australia ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the first time that we had this sort of human rights-based framework. The principles from that I want to quote briefly:

(a) Respect for inherent dignity, individual autonomy including the freedom to make one’s own choices, and independence of persons;

(b) Non-discrimination;

(c) Full and effective participation and inclusion in society;

(d) Respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity;

(e) Equality of opportunity;

(f) Accessibility;

(g) Equality between men and women;

(h) Respect for the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and respect for the right of children with disabilities to preserve their identities.

And that is important, and I think that Monsignor Cappo, who I will get to in a moment, recognised the importance of acknowledging this framework in this bill, and I think the minister has done so as well. There is, albeit a brief reference, the important reference in this bill to the UN Convention, so it gets a tick.

In December 2009, subsequent to the UN Convention, and with political discourse continuing in its way, Mike Rann, the former premier, sought the creation of a blueprint and commissioned Monsignor Cappo and the Social Inclusion Unit to draft that Strong Voices framework. The Strong Voices blueprint I do not want to dissect in great detail, but it was a significant body of work. The consultation process that Monsignor Cappo and his team undertook between July and September 2010 included more than 2,000 people being engaged in that process.

Just to give members of the house and those reading the Hansard an understanding of that consultation, 16 community forums, 10 in the country and six in Adelaide managed to get the involvement of 578 people; there was an online survey which attracted nearly 1,300 participants; there was a phone-in that was advertised that attracted 170 phone calls; and there were written submissions for 120 organisations and individuals. In addition, the Social Inclusion Unit proactively approached a number of organisations, including meetings at Orana, Minda, Strathmont, Bedford and Highgate, and a series of workshops and a stall at the 2010 DIRC expo. That work was significant. It gave us the Strong Voices report, and we are now in October 2011.

In the meantime, two bills had been presented to the Legislative Council by the Hon. Kelly Vincent, which dealt with a number of these issues, because we are getting on a bit for time. These issues have been circulating for some time. We are talking about an act that by this stage is 18 years old and, as we said at the beginning, was somewhat rushed. I should say, the first recommendation of the 34 contained in Strong Voices was:

Priority Action [number one] The South Australian Parliament must enact a new Disability Act to replace the existing Disability Services Act 1993 to: align with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and specify high level service standards such as minimising use of restrictive practices; direct all State Government agencies and Local Governments to lodge Access and Inclusion Plans with the Social Inclusion Board for public release; establish an integrated suite of appeal processes and safeguards; and establish a Community Visitors Scheme to monitor standards of disability housing and accommodation service settings.

I acknowledge that the last of those was included in last year's budget, but the remainder were waiting on the bill. The government responded after a couple of months, on 19 December, Premier Jay Weatherill and the Hon. Ian Hunter, Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, saying that the government supported 16 of 34 recommendations, and specifically in relation to recommendation one:

The Government will draft a Bill for a new Disability Act in consultation with people with a disability and the disability sector that is more reflective of the rights and aspirations of people with a disability. This will build on the initial work already undertaken in the proposed redrafting of the existing Disability Services Act announced by Minister Rankine in late 2010.

In late 2010 we have the work begun by the minister, the member for Wright. In late 2011 we have the minister from the other place announcing that this is underway, and then we have this two-year period until we get to today. I acknowledge that the current minister has said in this house previously that some of this is taking into account the NDIS.

That body of work was going on between 2010 and 2013 until that legislation was passed in the federal parliament, but for the first two years of that we had state ministers promising people with a disability in South Australia that they would have a new act reflecting the rights granted in the UN Convention and we had ministers who were also aware that this NDIS work was going on who did not use that as a reason why that could not work. I will go specifically to minister Hunter, then minister for disability, who, when answering a question from the Hon. Tammy Franks on 29 February 2012 about when this act was coming in, confirmed again:

The Social Inclusion Board's disability blueprint, Strong Voices, was released on 19 October 2011. It recommended that a new disability act replace the existing Disability Services Act 1993. On 19 December 2011 Premier Weatherill announced that the government would be drafting a new disability act.

…I certainly give the position of myself as minister that when we come to drafting the new act we will be consulting with the community and particularly those affected, people living with disabilities, very widely on the new act.

I acknowledge that there has been consultation on it. In April 2012, the Hon. Stephen Wade of the Liberal Party asked about the details of when the government would be tabling the new bill or whether it would considering the Hon. Kelly Vincent's bills, which had been lying on the table for some time. Minister Hunter at that stage said, on 5 April 2012:

The government is committed to bringing in a bill for a new act, as we have said publicly a number of times. It was a recommendation that the government accepted in the Strong Voices report, which we took to cabinet. My department is working on a range of proposals for me in consideration of a new act and, once we have a draft act that we take through to cabinet, we will put that out for public consultation.

On 25 June, in estimates last year, again minister Hunter said:

In terms of the new act. I am very pleased to report that the review of the act is well underway. We are committed to strengthening the rights, protection, advocacy and safeguards for people with disability.

He went on to say:

It is anticipated that the drafting instructions will be ready for cabinet by early August 2012. Parliamentary counsel will then receive the drafting instructions and prepare the bill, which will create a new disability act and repeal the Disability Services Act 1993.

It goes on to talk about the timeline being two years and being on track to meet that commitment. On 29 November last year, about a year ago, and three years on from the initial approach by former premier Rann, the Hon. Kelly Vincent asked:

When does he plan to introduce that legislation to reform the outdated Disability Services Act, or would he like to save himself a bit of time by supporting mine?

Minister Hunter responded:

I can advise the house that the legislation is before parliamentary counsel as we speak. I would like to have introduced it before the end of our year, but that is not to be. ... we can come back next week, I suppose. But I am not sure that parliamentary counsel would have it available even then—although if we were to give them some extra time, perhaps, and tell them to drop off all of the parliamentary drafting they are doing for Independent members of the house I might be able to get a bill drafted. However, that is another point altogether.

So that was the year of minister Hunter holding this portfolio. I have some respect for minister Hunter. I think he worked hard, but I think on this matter the rubber was hitting the road and there was delay after delay presented in different terms from what the new minister has suggested.

This year the member for Light has suggested that the bill was awaiting consideration in light of the NDIS legislation and obviously as a new minister there were other matters that he needed to take into account and we have a bill for which I am grateful. But it is not, in fact, the bill which was described by minister Hunter last year. It is not a repeal of the Disability Services Act in an entirely new act. It is a bill that makes some significant improvements to the Disability Services Act and, of course, the opposition is happy to support those improvements.

I make the point though that for the last four years the government has been talking about introducing a bill of this sort and it has been sought for longer than that. It was committed to by the Liberal Party at the last election, and the government had its Strong Voices framework set out and that is all well and good, but it would have been helpful had the parliament had the information that we were looking at something narrower than, in fact, the introduction of a whole new bill.

Going directly to the bill as it is presented to us, it is not a long bill. It references the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as I identified, and it enshrines the right of people with a disability to exercise choice and control in relation to decision making in their lives, and that is incredibly important. It mandates a requirement for disability service providers to have accessible and well-publicised complaints and grievance procedures.

It has protections for those who complain or report bad treatment; it mandates a requirement for disability service providers to have in place safeguarding policies and procedures; and it gives the Minister for Disabilities the power to make regulations covering the issue of reporting on outcomes with a view to monitoring an action on a lack of appropriate performance by both government and government-funded agencies. So that is the bill and that is what it does. We support those things. We will watch what happens with interest in the months ahead and as the NDIS work continues whether further improvements are made.

Just finishing on the NDIS, the shadow minister, the member for Morphett, could not have been more passionate in his support in his endeavour to demonstrate the Liberal Party's support for the NDIS, as I was as the previous shadow minister. I am pleased that on election night the Prime Minister singled it out and identified it as an issue that is above politics. It is an idea whose time has come. It is clear that people with a disability in a comparatively and relatively wealthy society such as Australia must have their rights enshrined and protected, and that work goes on.

I do not want to overstate the work that has already been done, because it is an ongoing project. We are getting there, but it would probably be premature to say that it is a heroic achievement that we have installed this NDIS or that the work of the previous federal government or the current work that is being done is the achievement in itself. It is a work in progress and, as part of the opposition and along with the shadow minister, I look forward to continuing to work with the government on endeavouring to make sure that the NDIS meets its promise, and this bill is no doubt going to be a step on that path.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: If the minister speaks he closes the debate.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light—Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, Minister for Social Housing, Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers) (16:44): Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and I will make a few comments. I would like to thank the speakers opposite for their comments and also for their indication of their support for this bill in its current form, and I look forward to a speedy passage of it, not only in this house but hopefully in the upper house, with their support in the upper house. In particular I would also like to thank the member for Morphett for his bipartisanship on this issue which he committed to and which he has delivered on, so I also acknowledge that.

This bill is the result of a gap analysis which I requested shortly after becoming minister. I have noted some of the delays in bringing this bill to this house but I can say that I have honoured the commitment that I made to this house to ensure that the bill came this year. The analysis identified two key issues: the need to legislate for safeguards for vulnerable adults living with disability—and that is certainly covered in this bill; and, secondly, creating a legislative basis for the disability stream of the Community Visitors Scheme. We have covered that by regulation but we also indicate that we will be looking at a bill in its own right at a future time to strengthen that program.

Due to the extensive consultation undertaken with the disability services sector—and I thank the member opposite for the compliment in acknowledging the contribution that the government has made in this area to engage the sector—I am confident that this bill satisfies the first of these two issues for those living with disability and their carers. The bill, as mentioned, references the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It enshrines the right of people with disability to exercise choice and control in relation to decision-making, which reinforces the principles underlying the NDIS scheme or Disability Care Australia. In that, I would like to say that as disability care will be an ongoing project, as mentioned by one of the speakers, we will have to respond accordingly with state law as things evolve over the next few years and I have made a commitment to do that.

This bill also references other national and state discrimination legislation. In particular, I would like to mention that in interpreting this act, we also take into account other acts, for example, the Carers Act and the important role that carers play in supporting and assisting people who are living with disability. This bill also mandates a requirement for disability service providers to have accessible and well-publicised complaints and grievance procedures. Through the consultation process, it was quite clear that one of the major grievances people had was that they did not know how to get their grievance resolved. While there was a number of existing statutory positions, they thought getting to that point was difficult. It now puts an onus on service providers to make sure people know how to go through the process.

Also, importantly, as a first step to safeguard people who are vulnerable and living with disability, this bill protects people who complain or report any bad treatment of people living with a disability. The bill also mandates a requirement for disability service providers to have in place safeguarding policies and procedures. I wish to really reinforce that. Often we have a lot of discussion about mandatory reporting and other things, and we may look at that in the future, but it is important that, rather than after the event, we safeguard people, and safeguarding people is preventing people from being abused or neglected, and the emphasis in this bill is to do that. I have given a commitment to work with the disability sector further, and I have set up a process where we will explore how we can best safeguard people living with disability. That work will continue over the next six, nine or 12 months and may result in further legislation later next year.

This bill also enables the minister to make regulations covering the issue of reporting on outcomes, with a view to monitoring and taking action on the lack of appropriate performance by government and government-funded agencies. One of the issues raised by many people was that it was one thing to have rules in place but how do we actually ensure that people are performing to the standards required?

In relation to the Community Visitors Scheme, we have enacted regulations this year to cover that and there will be legislation later on. However, I would like to put on the record and acknowledge the excellent work undertaken by Mr Maurice Corcoran AM in this area, and I also acknowledge the contribution and advice he has given to me on this bill and other matters and will continue to do so.

I would also like to mention the recent creation of the position of senior practitioner role within the Department for Disability, Communities and Social Inclusion, and the appointment of Professor Richard Bruggeman to the position for an initial period of 12 months. Professor Bruggeman will be pivotal in providing quality expertise and leadership oversight for protecting and promoting the rights of people living with disability who may be subjected to restrictive practices, and he will play an important role in ongoing review of the legislation.

I put on the record my thanks, as I already mentioned, to the opposition and particularly the member for Morphett. I also acknowledge the people in my department, Dr David Caudrey, Barbara Weis and Joe Young, for their advice and cooperation in the preparation of this bill, and also for the round tables that were held. I also acknowledge my personal staff, in particular Peter Hoppo and John Trezise, for their contribution in supporting me through this. Last but not least, I thank the disability sector, who worked cooperatively with me and the agency to come up with this bill. I look forward to the bill's speedy passage, and hopefully in the other house as well.

Bill read a second time.

Third Reading

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light—Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, Minister for Social Housing, Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers) (16:50): I move:

That this bill be now read a third time.

Bill read a third time and passed.