Reach Out Mums Group

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (15:46): I rise today to talk about an event I attended last month at the City of Playford Civic Centre. I attend many functions and events at the Playford Civic Centre, it being in the heart of my electorate, but this one was especially touching and, for a cynic like me, somewhat heart-warming. It was the 10^th anniversary of the Reach Out Mums Group and the online launch of their Reach Out and Connect booklet. As well as being there to celebrate with the ladies in my capacity as the local member, I was also there representing my friend the Minister for Disabilities.

As the minister already knows, the City of Playford has a fairly good record of providing quality, individualised services to both children and adults with disability in the community. I am saying that as someone who is not always a supporter of the City of Playford and the ways in which they spend my money, as well as that of other ratepayers, but in programs like this they do extremely well. I am really pleased and proud that the state government continues to help to fund such initiatives.

NDIS reform funding provides approximately $200,000 to the City of Playford for a range of South Australian home and community care activities and approximately $120,000 for specialist disability services, including the Reach Out Mums Group. The Reach Out Mums Group is a great example of the type of program that really makes a difference in the lives of those who attend it. The Reach Out Mums Group was established in Playford in 2007. The City of Playford at that time identified a gap in community support for some mothers with a mild intellectual disability.

The aim of the Reach Out Mums Group was to increase the skills and promote community participation for these mums through group activities, through workshops and through community outings. But it is so much more than that. Deputy Speaker, all mums, as you know, need love and support. As a husband of a mother of two under two, I understand this vividly. All mums need love and support, and this group provides a safe place for mothers with a mild intellectual disability to learn and share parenting and life skills. It is difficult to overstate the importance of this for the wellbeing of the mums and also for the wellbeing and future life chances of their kids.

The group currently has about 15 mums who meet weekly; sometimes their kids come along, sometimes grandkids come along and sometimes grandparents come along. It is a mutual support group between mums, but it also facilitates intrafamily relationships, helping to build, or in some cases to rebuild, some of the familial relationships which most of us take for granted when we have kids but which, for one reason or another, in these instances may need a bit of assistance.

Not only do they help each other out, support each other and assist each other to build and rebuild relationships, but they have also captured some of the lessons they have learned along the way and put them together in their Reach Out and Connect booklet. This booklet is a practical, easy to read resource that is intended to help other young mothers build on their abilities and provide them with the confidence they need to be great parents.

The celebration I attended was not only their 10^th birthday—with a lovely cake, I hasten to add, which I got to cut with the mayor in some rather awkward photographs which I hope will never see the light of day—but it was also the launch of this particular booklet online. It is hoped that having this resource online will allow it to help many others and to help others set up similar groups in other areas. I understand that, until recently, there was a group in Salisbury of a very similar nature which for some reason is, sadly, now non-existent. I hope that groups like this can be replicated across the state, and I think that this online booklet might lead the way in that respect.

I want to acknowledge the contribution of the Reach Out Mums Group participants and the City of Playford staff in putting this event together. As I spoke to this group and the people who administer the group at the City of Playford, I picked up equal parts excitement and anxiety about the introduction of the NDIS. There was a general acceptance that the disability sector is going through an exciting and challenging time with the introduction of the NDIS, and I reflected to the group on the fact that the ethos behind groups like Reach Out Mums reflects the ethos behind the introduction of the NDIS and the initial impetus for it.

Like the NDIS, it aims to increase the goals and aspirations of these people. Essentially, it aims to give them freedom to develop skills, to gain employment and to confidently take part in their local community and beyond in a meaningful way. As you know, Deputy Speaker, the NDIS rolls out in its universal form from July this year, and it will give people with disability real choice and real control over what supports are best for them. I want to congratulate again the Reach Out Mums group on 10 years of supporting each other and giving each other advice and the help and confidence they need to be great mums. I also congratulate the City of Playford on its commitment to providing opportunities for learning and development for these participants.