Motions

Code Blue Emergency Code

Debate resumed.

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (12:47): I am very pleased to stand in support of the motion by the member for Chaffey, and indeed I am very pleased that the government have indicated their support for this motion. It is a complex and extremely difficult situation to deal with when you have the numbers and resources in the metropolitan area to help a lot of these people.

I am pleased that the government have seen fit to put a Code Blue in the Riverland; however, it goes a little bit further than that. As the member for Mount Gambier suggested, it is also very relevant in areas of regional South Australia, particularly where we do not have the resources to cater for those who are out sleeping rough in the cold winter conditions and underfed. I have any number of children in my electorate who are actually fed breakfast at school. That should never happen. They are fed breakfast at school by necessity because sometimes it is about the only meal they get for the day.

There are a number of people who fall out of society and who are put in the position where they are sleeping rough or lying in the street somewhere with a newspaper over them. Only a couple of days ago, I was in Rundle Mall getting something and there was an Iraq war veteran there. Obviously, I do not know the circumstances, but he was there begging. Why a veteran in Australia is begging, I do not know. I do not know the circumstances, but it is important to note. In my electorate, I have any number of young people who go couch surfing. They have no home to go to. They have nowhere to sleep, so they couch surf in friends' houses, or wherever they can find a bed for the night to keep warm and where they can, hopefully, get something to eat.

It is a problem, and I am not suggesting that it is a problem that has not been around for years and years but, as the population grows—not in South Australia because everyone is leaving, getting out of the state—generally speaking, there is a major problem with those who cannot fend for themselves, whether they are ill-equipped to deal with society, whether they do not know how to maintain some semblance of work or income or whether they are afflicted by drugs or an illness of some kind. I do not need to go into that. Those people have to be looked after, so the motion by the member for Chaffey is to be supported. I commend him for bringing it to the house and I thank the government for supporting it.

Mr KNOLL (Schubert) (12:50): I also rise to commend the motion, and to commend the member for Chaffey for bringing it to the house, and to commend the government for supporting this motion and implementing some of what the member for Chaffey sought to talk about. This is another example of the member for Chaffey being a great advocate for the Riverland and the Mallee, bringing forth issues that are very much of import to his electorate. It is also one that affects my electorate quite heavily. Some people may not know that the Barossa Valley gets very cold. In fact, I do not think we have seen above about 12° in Angaston in the last month, and we have regularly had below zero temperatures and frost and ice building up on cars and the like on almost a nightly basis.

Interestingly with the Barossa, people would contend that it is quite an affluent and productive area and they would be correct. Our unemployment rate sits at about 4 per cent. We export a few hundred million dollars a year worth of Barossa-branded wine, and a few hundred million dollars worth of wine and grapes are brought in from other secondary regions around South Australia. We are quite a productive place. We also welcome a few hundred thousand tourist visitors to our neck of the woods. So you could be forgiven for thinking that homelessness is not an issue for the Barossa, but it is. It is not seen and it is not often heard of, but the Barossa community works together to deal with the issue.

Since becoming the local member of parliament, I have gone out, looked at and discussed with people the issues that exist and how they combat them, and I am quite impressed that the Barossa once again gets on with looking after its own. You would be forgiven for thinking that homeless people in country areas would find ways to navigate and move towards larger cities, and there is a trend towards that, but there is still a small but significant group of people who stay in their regional areas for various reasons and need help and support.

First, I want to say a big thank you to Lutheran Community Care. They have an office on Second Street in Nuriootpa and provide some of the best localised care in South Australia. They have a consistent stock of basic foodstuffs, blankets, clothing and the like for people who need emergency help. They also provide financial counselling services and try to place people into temporary housing. They are a volunteer group who have in their hearts the desire to do good, and that good comes through their faith and they express their faith by doing this service for the community. To Helen Lockwood and everyone at Lutheran Community Care, I say thank you for your ongoing work.

I also want to congratulate the Uniting Church community, and Reverend Christine Manning on the work they do at the House of Hope to help try to engage young people who have some difficulties through their family life, and who are at risk of disengaging with mainstream schooling and want a place where they can come together and look after each other. Again, the House of Hope does some really good work. I was really excited to be at the opening. The apricot slice was legendary, but even more legendary than that was the good work they do. We also have Anglicare and Centacare who do some good work around short-term accommodation within our community, and they are also very much worthy of praise.

What I like, and what I really want to impress upon members in my short contribution today, is the fact that once again the Barossa is a place where the community stands up and looks after its own. Lutheran Community Care, the House of Hope, Centacare and Anglicare utilise a huge volunteer workforce, a huge volunteer group, who, through goodwill and good spirit, get involved to help and look after those less fortunate. It is a credit to them that they manage to look after the people who come to them, but the broader community does not see that.

At times, it is probably good that we see that there are problems so that we can deal with them, but if it is the case that the needs are being met because of the good work of the non-government organisations in my community, then I commend them for that. I commend this motion to the house. We need to make sure that regional South Australia is not the poor cousin of metropolitan Adelaide, and I commend the member for Chaffey for his good work in this area.

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (12:55): I thank all the speakers who have contributed to this motion and commend the government for their support for what I consider is a very important motion. This level of care and support was previously unacknowledged, so again I acknowledge that the minister has recognised the lack of support for those people who are rough sleepers, who do not have a roof over their head, and those who are less fortunate than most of the people in day-to-day walks of life.

The government's support means that Code Blue is now implemented not only in metropolitan Adelaide but right around the state, the state centres that have issues with homelessness and people who are rough sleeping. Again, it really was something that came to the fore when the member for Adelaide and I were given an opportunity to tour the river to see those who are sleeping on the banks of the river, those who are sleeping under sheets of corrugated iron, those who are sleeping under tarpaulins and those who are just less fortunate and who have been dealt a tough pack of cards in life.

I want to acknowledge that things have changed over time for rough sleepers and the homeless. One of the things that really stuck in my mind as a child was the dismay at seeing people sleeping rough, lying on cardboard and using newspaper as insulation. On many occasions as a young child or young teenager, I would ask my parents why they used newspaper or why they used cardboard. That was really all they had. It was all they could scavenge out of the bins. We have seen humanitarian aid come to the fore, people who are volunteers, people who are much more caring and people who are being made aware of how they can help those who are less fortunate.

With the support of those service groups and government and non-government agencies, we now see homeless people with tarpaulins, tents and blankets. We now see them with a service sector that visits them. They are able to get in boats to visit people on the edge of the river. They are able to hop in vehicles to go to areas that are well known for where people take shelter, where people can just protect themselves. Particularly when it comes to Code Blue, when we have severe weather events, that is when it is really needed.

We heard contributions from a number of members in regard to how cold their regions get. There are no regions colder than regions that suffer from morning frost. When those people who are out sleeping rough get wet, the chill factor is significantly increased. When that chill factor hits them not only is the temperature minus 2° during a frost, but those people then start to incur body damage, and that is something that none of us here in this place want to see.

Some people are more fortunate than others in that when they are homeless they are able to couch surf and lean on a friend. They are able to find some form of support, some form of a building they can get into to look after themselves. My office has been inundated by people who have concerns when they see a family sleeping in a car. That is totally unacceptable in today's world. It is about finding those support services for those people who are less fortunate.

Today, we have acknowledged that we are a much more caring society and that we are caring for humanity. I acknowledge all the service providers, all the community volunteers and all the people who come out to help—they donate clothes and blankets for those people who are doing it rough. I acknowledge the government for implementing Code Blue to support people not only in metropolitan Adelaide but those in the regions of South Australia. I commend the motion to the house.

Motion carried.

Sitting suspended from 13:00 to 14:00.