Schools, Allied Health Service Providers

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (16:14): My question is to the Minister for Education, Training and Skills. Does the Department for Education have any plans to reduce the volume of allied health service providers seeing NDIS clients on school sites during the day and, in the alternative, does the government support proposals to make it easier for allied health providers to engage with NDIS clients on school sites?

The Hon. B.I. BOYER (Wright—Minister for Education, Training and Skills) (16:14): I thank the member for Morialta for his question, an important question, and I understand a question that has already been asked of the Hon. Emily Bourke today in the other place around whether or not there has been a change in policy or whether there is a change in policy that is coming soon that might in some way preclude allied health providers, most likely as part of NDIS supports, from coming and offering those supports on school sites.

I have taken the liberty of checking with the chief executive about whether or not he is aware of any changes that are foreshadowed that might make it less likely that those allied health providers can find a place at the school to provide their very important services to families there. I have been informed that there is no change planned.

Of course, we know, as does the Minister for Human Services and many other members of this place, there is a huge need for those services in our community broadly, but of course that is often felt very acutely at schools and in terms of our ability to make sure that we can have those settings provided in a place that is comfortable and safe and welcoming for parents. I think it is very easy for us to forget in the jobs that we do that many people in society, particularly those who might come from a more disadvantaged background, are more wary of going to access the kinds of services that might be provided in the broad sense from government that we would accept as just a daily part of our life and raise no question.

For that reason, offering them in-school settings is good and it suits those families. It helps us make sure that it is provided to all those children who need it, and I certainly wouldn't support any changes that would make it harder for those allied health professionals to get access to schools to provide those services.

I understand the policy that we operate in at the moment that governs the rules around what third-party allied health providers can and can't do in school sites is part of a policy signed off in 2019. It is the policy that we have kept. In some cases, I understand there are some schools that really struggle for space—a legitimate issue with actually having the physical space there to provide any kind of area, not even a fit-for-purpose one, for those allied health providers to actually come and offer their services.

In cases like that, there is the ability for our school principals in terms of the autonomy that we give them to have control on decision-making powers around their school site to say that they don't believe that they are in a position to be able to provide that space to allied health providers in which case they do their best to accommodate them elsewhere.

But I know, as would the member for Morialta—and the two of us have visited many, many schools, as has the member for Port Adelaide, and spoken to many principals—that I don't know of a school principal in any part of the schooling system in South Australia whether it's public, Independent or Catholic, who wouldn't bend over backwards to do everything they can to make sure that an allied health provider could have the space available there so that young people and families get access to those really important services in a space that is comfortable and welcoming for them.