Disability Services

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:48): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Human Services a question on disability services.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: The first time many people living with a disability or their carers heard about the significant privatisation policy change was as recently as a week ago. The opposition has been provided with a secret telephone script that is apparently being used to call family about the imminent privatisation. The opposition has also heard from many in the sector who are gravely concerned about what this privatisation plan means for the level of service currently being provided. Furthermore, there is a concern about the impact it will have on the ability to find workers in an area already facing a shortage of skilled workers. My questions to the minister are:

1. Has the minister or her office sighted the telephone script used to contact families about this privatisation?

2. What evidence does the minister have that this approach will result in better outcomes for people living with disabilities in South Australia?

3. How will the minister measure outcomes for clients and how would she define whether her privatisation has been a success?

4. Can the minister guarantee that no person living with a disability will be worse off under her privatisation?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:50): I thank the honourable member for his questions but, again, I reject the characterisation on a range of levels. A number of things he has raised are not worth even responding to because they are just so factually incorrect.

However, I refer to the so-called 'secret telephone script'. I'm not quite sure what the Leader of the Opposition would have us do, whether he would have us try to contact families and leave a message for them to be informed or whether to not leave a message at all. I am not quite sure what he is suggesting. As soon as the cabinet decision was made last week there was a robust attempt to communicate with all the workforce, with all the families, by telephone, by email, by letter, by meetings—a whole range of ways in which the government has been trying to communicate with people. If people do not answer their phone then the message is left. I have not actually seen the script myself but I trust my department to conduct these things respectfully.

I do not quite know what the Leader of the Opposition would have us do, whether he would prefer that we do not actually communicate with people or not. The guiding principle for this, the NDIS to which I referred last week—and I think it is regrettable that members opposite do not understand the basic premise of the NDIS—is choice and control for participants. If that is the guiding principle in this process that is a good thing. We also have a range of other stakeholders, as I referred to. We have a highly skilled workforce, and other providers in South Australia as well, who are doing a really good job of providing services to people with disabilities.