Disability Inclusion

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:03): My question is directed to the Minister for Human Services about an important initiative to increase access and inclusion for children with disability in our community. Can the minister please provide an update to the council about the establishment of a working group to develop guidelines for inclusive play spaces throughout South Australia and the inaugural meeting that took place this week?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:03): I thank the honourable member for her question. We are very pleased that we have had a number of representatives from a number of organisations who have been excited to participate in our play working group for inclusive playgrounds. We have the new Disability Inclusion Act, which was the first piece of legislation passed by the new Marshall government in the new parliament and so the agenda at South Australian level is for inclusion in a range of areas.

At the time the legislation had been drafted, and through its passage through the parliament, there was some concern expressed by local government in particular, which is now captured. We will be required to have access and inclusion plans and they might need some assistance with that. So we have established this as a first step in providing inclusive play spaces and assisting councils, and it is likely that developers and so forth will find these useful as well.

State government agencies and local government councils are going to have some statutory responsibilities to advise what their inclusion plans are, and we thought it was a really important initiative to bring together a range of experts in this area who are able to assist us. Of course, we have the Quentin Kenihan playground, which was announced by the Premier, which is going to be done in conjunction with the City of Adelaide.

The range of stakeholders include people who represent the various forms of disability. We have people who are experts in universal design. The Community Visitor, Mr Maurice Corcoran, is also a member. We have a range of councils and we have some very proactive councils in this space. The Hendrie Street playground at Park Holme is a very impressive playground within the City of Marion. I have mentioned the City of Adelaide. The City of Salisbury and the City of Playford have also done some very good work in this area and the Commissioner for Children and Young People, Inclusive Sport, community centres, Can Do, Nature Play and a range of government departments.

The group of individuals had their first meeting on Monday. We are hopeful that they will be reporting sometime in August and that this initiative will assist councils to not only follow their obligations under the act but that these places will be very welcoming for everybody, including parents who have lived experience of disability, and will take into consideration all the design considerations, and that we will see much more appropriate playgrounds going forward.