Grievance Debate

Homelessness Services

Ms PRATT (Frome) (15:11): I rise today to raise serious concerns, concerns that have been brought to my attention by my colleague the shadow minister for social and community housing regarding the growing number of vulnerable South Australians who have been ignored by the office of the Minister for Human Services.

I was disappointed to learn that when these serious matters are referred to the new minister it is taking 12 days for her office to even acknowledge them. In some cases, they are completely ignored. By contrast, the minister, when questioned today, stated that at-risk cases would be processed in her office as fast as they could and often straightaway.

These cases of concern include South Australians who are at high risk of homelessness, South Australians who are sleeping rough, South Australians whose properties require urgent maintenance work and, in one tragic case, a family that was left displaced after experiencing extremely traumatic events. The Minister for Human Services is confidently making grand speeches in parliament. She is making statements such as:

I am working to restore care, empathy and humanity to the human services and the social housing sector in South Australia.

Or:

My intention is for you to have the ability and the opportunity to live in safe housing and a positive family environment…

And:

Having a safe and suitable place to live is a fundamental human right. It is unacceptable for people, particularly children, older people and people living with disability, to be in insecure or unsuitable housing, or to be in crisis.

Even in her very urgent but unorthodox interruption of the Address in Reply, with the referral to the Social Development Committee, the minister declared just yesterday:

Every day a person is stuck in hospital, in inappropriate accommodation or with the wrong supports, delays their recovery and can even send them backwards.

On the matter of disability housing support, the minister stated that she was watching with interest. Well, she needs to do much more than that. But while the minister makes these grand statements of empathy and intention, vulnerable South Australians who do not have a suitable place to live are not even being acknowledged by her office. A number of cases have reported that after being referred to the minister's office they have not been personally contacted by her office and that their situations remain unresolved. Listening to these stories is heartbreaking and the delayed response from the minister falls worryingly short of the standards set by the former Marshall Liberal government.

Under the Marshall Liberal government, all cases would receive an acknowledgement from the office of the Minister for Human Services on the same day. Significantly, the former minister's office would also be in direct contact with medium to high-risk cases and actually follow up on their concerns on the same day as well.

The Minister for Human Services said last sitting week that she is not a minister who will sit in an ivory tower and that those experiencing hardship need to be heard. Even the member for Waite was extolling the minister's virtues today, stating that under this minister no-one gets left behind. However, her actions appear to be proving otherwise. The minister had four years as the shadow minister for human services and, during that time, she often criticised the former government and promised to do better.

I would hope that going forward every vulnerable person will be responded to in line with the precedent that was set by the Marshall Liberal government. Actions speak louder than words and it is time that the minister acted on her commitments.