Disability Services (Inclusion and Monitoring) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 19 May 2016.)

Ms DIGANCE (Elder) (10:40): Firstly, I would like to thank the member for Morphett for his ongoing commitment to the cause of improving the lives of people living with disability in South Australia. With more than 20 per cent of people indicating that they have a disability, it is crucial that we ensure that every South Australian is able to participate in, and contribute to, our society on an equitable basis.

The South Australian government is committed to ensuring that the current implementation of far-reaching national and state disability reforms will bring about cultural change and lead to better outcomes for people living with a disability. While the government notes the good intentions of the member for Morphett with respect to inclusion and equity for people who are living with a disability, the government does oppose this bill.

The member for Morphett has put forward two key proposals in his bill, and I will address each of these in turn. The first proposal is the mandating of disability inclusion action plans for state and local government. As noted by the member for Morphett, the development of disability access and inclusion plans by South Australian government departments and statutory authorities have been mandated and is underway.

Led by the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion, through Disability SA, the disability access and inclusion plan policy outcome areas align with those of the National Disability Strategy 2010-2020 and relate to the South Australian priorities. The plans provide an opportunity for agencies to identify and seek solutions to overcome social, economic and cultural barriers that limit the participation of people living with a disability in society. Agencies are required to provide information about their plans in their annual reports.

Disability action and inclusion plans form the basis of South Australia's reporting on progress against the NDS, which occurs every two years. Although it is not a legislative requirement for local government to develop disability access and inclusion plans, the Australian Local Government Association participated in the development of the NDS and committed to its implementation through the Council of Australian Governments.

Disability SA is working closely with the Local Government Association of South Australia to raise the profile of the NDS and, importantly, encourage and support councils to develop disability access and inclusion plans, using the state government approach. Local government has been represented on the across-government disability access and inclusion plans steering committee since its inception in 2013. Indeed, many councils already have disability action plans or strategies in place.

Given that the government has already mandated the introduction of disability access and inclusion plans across state government agencies, the government does not consider that legislation is necessary at this stage. However, the Minister for Disabilities wishes to put on the record that the government would like to extend an opportunity to the member for Morphett to work together regarding ways in which disability access and inclusion can be improved at the local government level, in collaboration with the Local Government Association of South Australia.

The second proposal in this bill is that incidents of abuse of people with disability in supported accommodation be monitored and reviewed by the State Ombudsman. The state government already has a robust network of mechanisms in place to prevent incidents of abuse of people with disability living in supported accommodation and to investigate, and appropriately respond, when incidents unfortunately do occur.

Under the current legislative framework, issues of concern, including those related to serious abuse or care concerns, can be referred for investigation to the State Ombudsman. Alternatively, the South Australian Health and Community Services Complaints Commissioner, which is an independent statutory office established under the Health and Community Services Complaints Act 2004, is responsible for investigating complaints specifically in relation to community services, including disability services.

Other mechanisms are already established to investigate or respond to incidents of abuse of people with disability, and these include:

the DCSI Care Concern Investigations, which investigates and acts on allegations of abuse of vulnerable persons who are clients of the disability services and/or service providers funded by Disability SA;

the DCSI Critical Client Incidents Policy, which ensures all critical client incidents are reported, managed and monitored in a consistent way;

the Disability SA Feedback and Incident Review Team, which manages feedback and serious incidents received about non-government organisations funded by DCSI to provide services for people with disability;

the Disability Community Visitor Scheme, which was introduced in 2013 and is an independent statutory scheme that visits and monitors standards in supported accommodation services in order to ensure the wellbeing of vulnerable residents and that their rights are upheld; and

the DCSI Disability Senior Practitioner, who has a focus on reducing the use of restrictive practices and upholding the rights of South Australians with disability to live free from unauthorised restrictive practices.

There have also been other recent reforms designed to improve the safety of people with disability in supported accommodation. This government has already amended the Disability Services Act 1993 in response to a recommendation of the Strong Voices report. The Disability Services (Rights, Protection and Inclusion) Amendment Act 2013 was passed by parliament and commenced operation on 5 December 2013. It applies to all prescribed disability service providers in South Australia and strengthens protection for people with disability. It includes new requirements for the screening of relevant history for persons in prescribed positions working with people with disability.

In June 2014, the South Australian government released the Disability Justice Plan 2014-2017 to promote the rights and needs of people with disability in contact with the criminal justice system, including victims, witnesses, suspects and defendants. Under the Disability Justice Plan, two new sexual offences were introduced into the Criminal Law Consolidation (Sexual Offences-Cognitive Impairment) Act 2014 which aim to increase protection for people living with intellectual disability or cognitive impairment from sexual exploitation by those in positions of power and authority.

Overall, any additional powers for the State Ombudsman are not considered necessary, given this strong network of statutory and other investigative processes that are already in place. Furthermore, any statutory amendments would pre-empt the work underway as part of the implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (commonly known as the NDIS).

A national quality and safeguarding framework is being developed which will propose new national functions for provider quality and registration, complaint handling (including the investigation of serious incidents) and restrictive practices. As I said earlier, until responsibilities and roles regarding a national quality and safeguarding framework are finalised by national and state disability ministers, through the Disability Reform Council, and other significant initiatives are implemented, it would be precipitous to support any amendments at this stage.

While the government welcomes the intent for improving disability inclusion that the member for Morphett has shown in tabling this bill and his continued concern for those who are most vulnerable in the disability community, further amendments to the Disability Services Act 1993, as proposed in this bill, are not supported at this stage.

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (10:49): I appreciate the speech by the member for Elder, but I am extremely disappointed that the minister has not made that same speech. I am extremely disappointed that the government is not willing to work with the opposition because it is an opposition bill. That is what this is all about. We have seen it time and time again. If it is not what the government wants or they think they can improve it, let's see the amendments. I have said to the minister and to the other minor parties that if they think they can improve this legislation, please let me know how to do it.

Some of the feedback I have had from the government is that the NDIS is going to take care of a lot of this. Members should remember that this bill is modelled on the New South Wales legislation. In a moment, I will talk about the role of the Ombudsman being a little bit different in New South Wales, and that is an area that does need amendment. A press release put out by the New South Wales minister in May 2014 states:

The main purpose of the bill is to enhance protections and enshrine the rights of people with disability into New South Wales law during implementation and following full transition to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

To use the National Disability Insurance Scheme as some sort of shield and say, 'Well, we don't need to do this because we're not sure how it can work out,' is an absolute cop-out. There is no accountability at the moment, there is no transparency at the moment, and there is no reporting at the moment. In the Strong Voices report, which was delivered to this place in October 2011, recommendation 6 states:

…all State Government agencies, local councils, statutory authorities and State Government contractors must—

'must' is the word in here—

develop and implement an annual Access and Inclusion Plan. Access and Inclusion Plans will be public documents and lodged with the Social Inclusion Board…

However, there is no requirement there for reporting and transparency. They 'must' do it, though, according to that recommendation. Has that been done? In 2015, the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion issued the Disability Access and Inclusion Plan 2014 to 2018. In that, they say that government departments will have these access and inclusion plans, but again none of that is going to be reported on. There is no accountability. Why wait? Why not bring in the amendments? Why not work with the opposition? Why not work with me?

I stood on the stage with the Premier at the Novita Christmas party a few years ago and said, 'If you can't be bipartisan about disabilities, when can you be bipartisan?' I am looking and hoping for a bipartisan approach here, but I am obviously not getting it because it is their way or no way. That is what this government is doing all the way. We are seeing it with child protection now, and we are seeing it with so many other issues. It is their way or no way at all, and that is just not the way we can continue.

Yes, there is a difference between the way the Ombudsman in New South Wales works and how they work in South Australia. I spoke to the Health and Community Service Complaints Commissioner about this, and I was more than happy, if I got the opportunity to introduce an amendment, to make sure that the appropriate authorities in South Australia were up-front as the go-to people. I am happy to talk to the government about this.

This is an absolute cop-out by this government. I am extremely disappointed that the minister has not come to me and said, 'Let's work with this. This is good. This is something we need to do. We do need to be accountable. We do need to be reportable.' The New South Wales local government association thinks this is fantastic. I know that the local government associations here were not very happy with it, but let me tell you that most of the local governments, if they are worth their salt, are already doing this. The government is already doing this to an extent. Let's have some accountability, let's have some reporting, and let's have some measuring of what we are doing.

As Paddy Phillips, the Chief Medical Officer, said to me a number of years ago, when talking about the health system in this state, 'You can't know what you don't measure.' Dr Phillips was quite right: you cannot know what you do not measure. So let's have some KPIs on this, let's have some accountability, let's have some openness, let's have some transparency. Let's have the minister come into this place and table their report every four years on what has been done. Let's be proud of what we are doing for people with disabilities in South Australia. Let's show people around the world that South Australia can be a leader.

We have led in so many areas over the time of this parliament. We have been a leader so many times, not just of this nation but of the world. Let's do it again. Let's show them that we can care for people with disabilities, and those who care for them, by making sure that they have appropriate accommodation and making sure that they are not being left behind, not being disadvantaged and not being abused. We need to make sure that they are not underprivileged and that they are not being forgotten because none of us can forget.

One of the best portfolios I have is this disabilities portfolio because every time I wake up in the morning I realise how lucky I am. I realise what a wonderful life I have and what a wonderful family I have. I meet people who have massive challenges in their lives. If I can do anything at all to work with this government to make sure that this legislation is put through, I am happy to do it. So please do not just say, 'It's an opposition bill. You're a nice guy, Duncan. We would like to work with you, but there are too many other complicating factors.' That is not true. There are not so many complicating factors that we cannot work together on this.

I know that members on the other side are locked in on their party positions on these issues, and I know that they have to sit behind this disgraced Premier who should not be here. He should have resigned yesterday. We know that he has no accountability. There is no ministerial accountability in this place. I hope the new minister for disabilities does remain accountable. I hope that she wants her department and every department to remain accountable, unlike this Premier who should have gone yesterday. He is a disgrace. I do not believe a word this man says now. He should not be here.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Can we just get back to discussing the bill before us? You have finished? The question before the house is that the bill be read a second time.

The house divided on the second reading:

Ayes 15

Noes 21

Majority 6

Majority of 6 for the noes.

Second reading thus negatived.