Junction Australia

The Hon. J.S. LEE (14:24): My question is to the Minister for Human Services. Can the minister please advise the chamber about the recent Junction Australia staff conference?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:24): I thank the honourable member for her question. Junction Australia is a leading provider of a wide range of community support services and quality housing. It operates under the principle that all people have value regardless of their life circumstances and aims to strengthen lives and communities by providing aspirational intentions for all people. It assists over 8,500 South Australians every year. It has in its portfolio 2,200 homes accommodating 4,000 tenants, of whom 1,500 are women-led households. Some 4,500 people access 30 different services across 33 local government areas in South Australia.

Junction Australia focuses on three main areas of need in our community, those being homelessness and affordable housing, child protection and domestic violence. As well as housing services, it provides a range of wraparound services, including counselling to children, young people and adults, behaviour programs, support for parents and a program called Siblings in Focus, which provides the opportunity for children to take time out of their caring role so that they can enjoy being a child and spend time with other children of their age to develop skills and better cope with life. They have a community centre and also provide a range of domestic violence services. A number of their properties are focused in Adelaide's south and on Kangaroo Island and the Fleurieu Peninsula.

Junction Australia has a conference annually for its 250 staff, which was held on 27 June. The guests included Professor Pascale Quester, who is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Adelaide, who spoke about the important partnerships that the university has with an organisation such as Junction Australia; the chair, Mr Mike Canny; and Maria Palumbo, who is the CEO. I also acknowledge the Hon. Rachel Sanderson, Minister for Child Protection, who addressed the staff; Ms Jayne Stinson, the opposition spokesperson for child protection; and Ms Nat Cook, the shadow minister for human services.

I was also asked to speak to the staff and was able to provide them with some information about our new housing authority, which the organisation has expressed excitement about going forward. One of the other speakers for the day was well-known comedian Fiona O'Loughlin, who no doubt would have been very entertaining. I was pleased that she was not slated to speak before myself because she would be a very hard act to follow.

It was an event that went all day. I understand that it is run annually for the staff to provide them with an opportunity to reset, examine some serious issues and have a bit of time out, and also to acknowledge the good work of the staff, who have some very challenging times in their daily work. I congratulate them on organising such an important event, for acknowledging their staff in this space and for all the work they do for South Australians.