Royal Society for the Blind

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (14:57): My question is to the Minister for Disabilities. How are disability services expanding in the southern suburbs?

The Hon. L.A. VLAHOS (Taylor—Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (14:57): I thank the honourable member for her question; I know she is a passionate advocate for community facilities in the south. I had the pleasure of joining the member for Reynell last Wednesday, in fact, when we opened the Royal Society for the Blind's new southern office at Noarlunga Downs. It is also located between the electorates of the members for Kaurna and Mawson, right on the boundary.

As members would be aware, the Royal Society for the Blind—also known as the RSB—provides invaluable resources for many South Australians who are either blind or have a vision impairment, and that is very many South Australians indeed. In 2015-16 the South Australian government will provide $2.9 million to RSB for specialist disability services.

We know that there has been significant population growth in the southern suburbs over many years, and more South Australians are moving to this delightful part of Adelaide. This has led to an increasing demand for disability services, which the RSB is moving to address with community services such as we launched last week. The RSB's new purpose-built offices in the southern suburbs were made possible by a very generous bequest by the late Mr Leo Schleim, a migrant to this country who made a remarkable contribution as a small business person and as a passionate advocate for people in this space.

RSB provides many different things in the southern suburbs, and I was very pleased to see new provision of accessible services to South Australians in this sector. I had the pleasure of being given a tour of the new facility by Robert Depold, the assistant executive director, and Travis Little, who is the Southern RSB Coordinator. It was great to see the RSB embracing new technologies, and assistive technologies are making profound differences in South Australian's lives as we move forward. Devices that were available at the new office included smart phone accessories to help users read text, and new braille technologies that are emerging to improve people's access to computers and reading. I am also advised that in the near future there will hopefully be the start of technologies that provide tablets, as a major form of braille functionality, to be built into machines.

It is clear from the almost 100 guests at the launch that this is a very important site in the southern suburbs and that it will be of great value to them and people living in the south. I would like to thank personally the RSB southern office team, who made me feel so welcome last week. I am sure that their passionate volunteers will continue to expand services in the south.