Ageing and Adult Safeguarding (Disapplication of Transitional Provision) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 1 July 2020.)

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (16:21): In the shadow of Oakden, the Marshall Liberal government has been committed to upholding the rights of all vulnerable adults, ensuring that they are able to live a life free from abuse and neglect. This is an important right for all South Australians.

All vulnerable adults deserve to have their rights safeguarded and to live a life of dignity and autonomy as far as is possible or practical. That is why, in the lead-up to the state election in March 2018, the Liberal Party made a commitment to introduce legislation into the parliament within its first 100 days of forming government.

In 2011, on the other hand, legislative reform in relation to adult safeguarding was raised in the findings of the Closing the Gaps report, written by Professor Wendy Lacey. The former government failed to act over seven years. This government acted within 100 days, and that unit was established with an important legislative function which focuses on prevention and early intervention.

When the bill was passed in 2018 it was proposed that the definition of a ‘prescribed vulnerable adult’ within the transitional provision of the Ageing and Adult Safeguarding Act 1995 be expanded, from 1 October 2022, to include vulnerable adults living with a disability. The transitional provision was included to ensure that, as a new service with unknown service demand, it was not overwhelmed, and to allow the unit time to establish appropriate and effective client pathways and procedures.

As a result of ongoing promotion and strengthened relationships with organisations across a range of sectors, awareness of the unit has increased considerably. I think that some members talked about it in their newsletters, and anyone who has not should. This, as well as the implications for older people as a result of isolation due to COVID-19, has meant that the number of reports to the unit has increased, as has the complexity and time spent on individual cases. That certainly mirrors what we have found in the domestic and family violence portfolio where again we were asking people who were vulnerable to be at home and to isolate. In the first instance, while we did not necessarily see an increase in contacts to our crisis line, we certainly saw very quickly an increase in complexity of cases. The majority of reports made to the unit involve instances of financial abuse, often coupled with emotional and/or psychological abuse. However, there has been a noticeable recent rise in the number of reports relating to neglect, which the unit is well placed to investigate and respond to.

In response to the tragic death of Ann Marie Smith, the Minister for Human Services established the Safeguarding Taskforce, co-haired by Dr David Caudrey and Ms Kelly Vincent. The purpose of the task force was to examine existing gaps and areas that need strengthening in safeguarding arrangements for people living with a disability, and to provide recommendations to the state government for immediate reform. The final report of the task force, presented to the government on 31 July 2020, recommended extending, and I quote:

…the scope of the Adult Safeguarding Unit to include younger adults at risk of abuse prior to 2022, commencing with people with disabilities.

Within a week of the final report being received, the government promulgated a notice in the Gazette, which expanded the Adult Safeguarding Unit's legal mandate to enable it to respond to reports of abuse of adults living with a disability effective as of 1 October 2020, some six weeks ago. Expanding the legal mandate aligns with community expectations that vulnerable adults with a disability are safe and have the support they require.

The government's swift and strong response to the task force's recommendations make the amendments put forward in this bill redundant and no longer necessary. For those who are interested, the gazettal is titled Declaration by the Minister for Health and Wellbeing—Prescribed Vulnerable Adult and is dated 6 August 2020.

Mrs POWER (Elder) (16:25): I want to rise and speak on this very important issue in terms of what we are doing around protecting and safeguarding not only vulnerable adults but vulnerable children. We know that all vulnerable adults deserve to have their rights safeguarded and to live a life of dignity and autonomy as far as possible or practical.

South Australians will certainly not forget what happened with Oakden and the horrific circumstances that surrounded that. It was in the shadow of Oakden that we came into government in 2018 and, as a government, we committed to upholding the rights of all vulnerable adults, ensuring they are able to live a life free from abuse and neglect. It is an important right for all South Australians. That is why we not only came into government with that clear vision but we also made a commitment during the election campaign prior to forming government to introduce legislation into parliament within our first 100 days of forming government.

In 2011—and the minister spoke about this—legislative reform in relation to adult safeguarding was raised in the findings of the Closing the Gaps report written by Professor Wendy Lacey. The former government failed to act over seven years; we acted within 100 days. We established an Adult Safeguarding Unit within the Office for Ageing Well under the Department of Health and Wellbeing. The unit has an important legislative function that focuses not only on prevention but early intervention as well.

When we passed our bill in 2018, it was proposed that the definition of a prescribed vulnerable adult be expanded within the transitional provision of the Ageing and Adult Safeguarding Act 1995 to include vulnerable adults living with a disability, from 1 October 2022. The transitional provision was included to ensure that as a new service, with an unknown service demand, it was not overwhelmed, and to allow the unit time to establish appropriate and effective client pathways and procedures.

As a result of ongoing promotion and strengthened relationships within organisations across a range of sectors, awareness of the unit has increased considerably. This, as well as the implications for older people as a result of isolation during COVID-19 restrictions has meant that the number of reports to the unit has increased, as has the complexity and time spent on individual cases.

That certainly mirrors what we have found in the domestic and family violence portfolio, where again we were asking people who were vulnerable to be at home and to isolate. In the first instance, while we did not necessarily see an increase in contacts to our crisis line, we certainly saw very quickly an increase in complexity of cases.

The majority of reports made to the unit involve instances of financial abuse often coupled with emotional and psychological abuse. In my time doorknocking, people shared with me some really heartbreaking and horrific examples of how emotional abuse has shown up not only in their family but also in the family of somebody they know. There has been a noticeable recent rise in the number of reports relating to neglect which, fortunately, the unit is well placed to investigate and respond to.

We all recall it was not that long ago that we learnt, as a community, of the tragic death of Miss Ann Marie Smith. In response to this tragic death and circumstances, the Minister for Human Services established the Safeguarding Taskforce, co-chaired by Dr David Caudrey and Ms Kelly Vincent, and I know the Minister for Human Services again acted very quickly in establishing that task force and making sure we had the right people around the table to really look at what needed to be done.

The purpose of the task force was to examine existing gaps in areas that needed strengthening and safeguarding arrangements for people living with a disability, and to provide recommendations to the state government for immediate reform. The final report of the task force, presented to the government on 31 July 2020, recommended extending the scope of the Adult Safeguarding Unit to include younger adults at risk of abuse prior to 2022, commencing with people with disability.

As I mentioned, whilst we are talking about adult safeguarding, we are also working to make sure that all people regardless of their age, but particularly those who are vulnerable—people with disability—have the appropriate safeguarding arrangements put in place. Within a week of the final report being received, this government put a notice in the Gazette that expanded the Adult Safeguarding Unit's legal mandate to enable it to respond to the reports of abuse of adults living with a disability, effective as of 1 October 2020.

Expanding the legal mandate aligns with community expectations that vulnerable adults with a disability are safe and that they have the supports they require. Our government's swift and strong response to the task force recommendations makes the amendments put forward by the member for Hurtle Vale redundant. However, I would like to acknowledge and commend her attention and care in this space and her work with vulnerable people.

We have heard it said often in this place that a society can be measured by how it responds to its most vulnerable people. I certainly think the Marshall Liberal government is doing all that it can—all that is practical and possible—in terms of our response to all vulnerable people, of all ages, of all circumstances. The budget handed down yesterday by the Treasurer made a number of announcements reflecting our commitment not only in what we say but in the actions that were taken in order to make sure our most vulnerable South Australians are cared for, that they receive the support, that they are protected and, importantly, that they are empowered to go on and live the best life possible for them.

Ms COOK (Hurtle Vale) (16:32): I thank members who have contributed. The majority of the words that all members have spoken have been relevant to the debate and sympathetic to the idea that there are many more than the defined 'vulnerable people' living within our community who need support.

I reiterate that the Office for Ageing Bill, creating an adult safeguarding unit to respond to instances of elder abuse, was a concept that originated under the Labor government. It came as a result of recommendations from the elder abuse committee, which I co-chaired and ran with Ms Kelly Vincent and on which several members of the Liberal opposition at the time sat. We worked closely with people like Wendy Lacey to come up with concepts that would better protect vulnerable people in the community.

During the debate on the legislation that was tabled here in parliament under this current government, Labor successfully moved amendments enabling the unit to investigate some systemic issues, which we are grateful for. These issues relating to abuse systemically can be dealt with under this particular piece of legislation. I note that on 1 October there has been a change to the definition of a vulnerable person under the Gazette to include someone with an intellectual, psychiatric, cognitive, neurological, sensory or physical impairment, or a combination of them. This is a good step to broaden the scope of the Adult Safeguarding Unit, but it governs only those people deemed within these parameters. It seems a folly, to me, not to cover all adults and let the experts who work in the safeguarding unit decide whether or not they fit within their scope.

It provides that next level of safeguarding, that next opportunity for something to be picked out or picked up and acted upon. Given some of the horror that people with disability and older people are being subjected to, as evidenced by the royal commissions that we have seen, no doubt I am not an island when it comes to people coming to my office seeking assistance and mediation with providers and other people in the community. I feel that this simple amendment to the bill is really not too much to ask in a year during which people have been extremely vulnerable, not just because of COVID but because of their circumstances and, broadly, a system that is not working all the time.

This amendment would allow the unit to investigate instances of abuse of all adults who are deemed vulnerable regardless of their age. As such, I commend this bill to the house and seek all members with a conscience regarding this to support this amendment bill.

The house divided on the second reading:

Ayes 20

Noes 22

Majority 2

Second reading thus negatived.