Communication Partner Service

Ms COOK (Hurtle Vale) (18:03): I rise today to speak about the Communication Partner program that was funded by the former Labor government and has since been cut by the current Liberal government. The Communication Partner Service began in late June 2016 and has been run by Uniting Communities. The program is designed to assist people living with disability and other special needs with their communication in accessing the court and justice system.

The program, which Labor initiated, was part of the state's Disability Justice Plan and was established on a statutory basis under the Statutes Amendment (Vulnerable Witnesses) Act 2015. I made a contribution to this bill during the debate and was very proud to see it pass under the then Attorney-General, the Hon. John Rau.

The service is delivered by volunteers who help victims, witnesses, suspects and defendants to communicate and give evidence in police interviews and throughout court proceedings. The service is free and has been funded by the state in order to help vulnerable people, people who have limited access to funds. But, as has happened regularly through the Liberal Party budget process, the Marshall Liberal government have decided that this service model is no longer what they want and they have cut the funding, just like the cutting of funding to other legal and support services such as the Welfare Rights Centre and the like.

From 1 March 2020, a new model for communication partners will be in place. It is a fee-for-service model. What does this mean? It means that vulnerable people, who often do not have an income stream other than supplement payments or NDIS assistant services, will have to pay for this vital service to help them seek justice.

For clarity, NDIS payments cannot be used to pay for this service. It would not have formed part of their plan when the plan was put in place, so even if they wanted to they could not fund it out of NDIS funding even if it were eligible. The service will be managed in the future by government agencies and legal professionals. For example, members of SAPOL or legal practitioners will have to seek the assistance they need.

Yesterday afternoon, I attended the Uniting Communities function to celebrate the great work all the volunteers and workers have contributed to the program over the years before this program is cut by the government. It was more of a wake, I guess. Some of the statistics I learnt at the function—and I am very happy to provide more if people are interested—were that, since 2016, 343 people have sought assistance through this program. The referrals have come from organisations like SAPOL, with 222 requests; defence lawyers, 31 requests; the DPP, 30 requests; eight from court affiliates; and 58 from family and support workers. These people do not necessarily always have the skill set to deal with people who have complex needs—not like those who have a full suite of communication skills. Some people are non-verbal and use communication devices.

Of those who sought help from the program, 195 were provided with assistance at interviews, hearings and meetings. This is because they had specific communication needs. This cohort can include people with autism, intellectual disabilities, acquired brain injuries, multiple complex conditions and more. This program provided a central hub, if you like, that vulnerable people could easily find, easily navigate and understand. But, of course, this is no more.

Yesterday, Simon Schrapel, Chief Executive of Uniting Communities, remarked to his cohort of volunteers that they had pioneered the service over the last 3½ years. They had set up the program from scratch. They developed all the material and all the backgrounding. They did all the work required to start this valuable service, and it was viable and it was delivering for all their contacts. Over the past few years, people in all sorts of situations in need were helped with the enormous effort and contribution from the volunteers, and I congratulate Simon and his team on doing so.

Uniting Communities has produced a publication that has been put together to tell the stories and the experiences that have been delivered by the program. The booklet is being distributed to lawyers, the police and others who work within the justice system in an effort to assist them with delivering this fee-for-service assistance program, which we will be watching closely.

I urge the Attorney-General to read the document, to reconsider the value of this important service and to reconsider the relatively small amount of funding, which I understand is less than a quarter of a million dollars a year to run the program, and to consider reinstating it. It is valuable and the people who access it do not get help through any other means.