Disability Services (Inclusion and Monitoring) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (10:45): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Disability Services Act 1993. Read a first time.

Second Reading

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (10:45): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

As the shadow minister for disabilities, I take great pleasure in representing that sector, a sector which for many years has been unable to achieve the full wants and desires of the people they represent. The state government have gone some way in advancing the wants and the needs of people with disabilities. There is a state Disability Access and Inclusion Plan 2014-18 and also there is the Disability Access and Inclusion Plan toolkit which has been put out by the government. That is a good thing and nobody can doubt that.

We have had other legislation go through this place in support of people with disabilities in the justice system and in access to many areas. We have obviously got the federal legislation, the Disability Discrimination Act, and COAG agreements that are assisting people with disabilities that were signed by the premier Mike Rann back in 2004 when it was a national agreement.

I will say that, in many ways, my legislation is a mirror of the New South Wales' legislation which was passed in 2014. The New South Wales government have not found it difficult to implement this legislation and certainly the local government in New South Wales have not found it difficult to implement this sort of legislation.

What my bill calls for is not just a disability action plan in a brochure going out to the government departments. This actually puts into legislation the action that is needed to be taken by state and local government and other authorities.

My bill continues to then give the Ombudsman the power to investigate some of the issues associated with people living in supported accommodation because what is happening in Australia—and I know there is some argy-bargy about the funding at the moment—is we are going through a massive transition in our attitude towards funding and supporting people with disabilities. The National Disability Insurance Scheme has raised expectation higher, as high as the sky, but unfortunately the funding is nowhere near available at that level. We have to make sure that we have raised those aspirations and put our mouths out there and the words out there, but now we have to put the money out there.

This legislation starts this some way on a state basis. It is good state legislation and I hope that when the government looks and reads this legislation they will actually put aside government time to pass this legislation through this place, because it is needed to be done now because we are entering into a transition stage with the NDIS coming in in South Australia on 1 July 2018 when 33,000 South Australians, on current estimates, will be coming into the NDIS. They will need to know what services and what opportunities are available to them.

This bill introduces a disability inclusion plan that has to be prepared by the state. The minister must prepare a state disability inclusion plan and that plan sets out the whole-of-government goals that support inclusion in the community of people with disabilities and improves access to services and facilities for people with disabilities. The plan continues to be under review every four years and a report is tabled in this place. The plan is enshrined in legislation, in as much as, it has to be done, it has to be reviewed and it has to be improved.

My bill continues on to have disability inclusion action plans being prepared by local government and other authorities. The New South Wales Local Government Association have said this was not a problem for them because they were doing a lot of that. So far, I have anecdotal evidence from people in local government whom I have spoken to. We have contacted the Local Government Association for consultation feedback on this and I am willing to amend it if there are problems I have not foreseen.

Local government in New South Wales has been able to put in place disability inclusion action plans and I think local government here will be able to do that, because many of them are doing it, anyway. They have got a lot of it in place. This just puts it into legislation and gives them a clearer view of what they actually should be doing.

It is things such as providing access to buildings, events and facilities, providing access to information, providing information about accommodation and accommodating the specific needs of people with disabilities. It is not an onerous task, by any means, but we owe it to people with disabilities, particularly now that we are giving them the opportunity through the NDIS to go out and make their own choices about the services they choose and the lives they want to lead. Let us not get in their way now that we have given them this big opportunity. Let us take the 'dis' out of 'disability'. Let us give them the ability to choose and get on with their lives.

This is good legislation. I know the new minister and I have a very good working relationship and I hope to work with her in a bipartisan way. I stood on the stage at the Novita Christmas party a couple of years ago with the Premier and I said, 'If you can't be bipartisan about disabilities, what can you be bipartisan about?' This is one area in which I hope we can work together. Just because I have come up with this legislation—I have not: I have just produced a South Australian version of the New South Wales legislation, which is good legislation, to assist people with disabilities and the state and local governments in moving forward.

This is good legislation and I hope the government does consider putting aside some of government business time to debate this legislation. I do not think it will take a lot of debating, quite honestly, because it is good common-sense. There are good resources on the net and people can contact my office. The Disability Access and Inclusion Plan 2014 to 2018 is the South Australian version. There is the Disability Inclusion Plan, which is the New South Wales version, and the New South Wales Disability Inclusion Action Planning Guidelines. They are good documents to read.

Read the bill. It is not one of these bills where you need to go to the Acts Interpretation Act to see what means what. This is about giving people with disabilities a real opportunity. I look forward to the support of not only this side of the house but the whole of the parliament. It is a good thing that we are doing here today.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. P. Caica.