Inclusive Play Spaces

The Hon. J.S. LEE (14:44): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question to the Minister for Human Services about inclusive play spaces.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: In February this year, the Marshall Liberal government announced the establishment of an inclusive play working group to develop guidelines for local government and other agencies to use when designing and building safe and fun play spaces that are accessible and improve outcomes for children living with disability. On the International Day of People with Disability, can the minister please update the council on this important work?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:44): I thank the honourable member for her question and for her interest in this very important area. It gives me great pleasure, today being International Day of People with Disability, that we have launched our inclusive play guidelines to assist any organisation involved in the development of children's playgrounds and play spaces, for which there are many possible applications from local government playgrounds to those that are in our kindergartens, childcare centres, and a whole range of other areas where there may be play equipment.

The inclusive play guidelines are a new go-to guide for local government and other agencies to ensure that inclusive play is considered in the design of all playgrounds and play spaces. I think it is fair to say that people do not know what they do not know. We have had a very diverse group of organisations and individuals who have contributed to the development of these guidelines, and we are incredibly grateful that they came along to provide us with their expertise in terms of ensuring that these guidelines are inclusive of all disabilities. People with disability are very diverse and their disabilities are very diverse, so it is important to incorporate elements that will assist everyone.

The organisations that contributed to the inclusive play working group included: Architecture and Access, Autism SA, Can:Do, the City of Adelaide, the City of Marion, the City of Playford, the Commissioner for Children and Young People, Community Centres SA, the Community Visitor Scheme, the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure, Disability Recreation and Sports SA, the Department for Education, Inclusive Sport SA, Kalaya Children's Group, the Office of Recreation and Sport, Playgroup SA and Purple Orange.

These inclusive guidelines for families and children with disability means that they will, into the future, have more places where they can attend. We had a family attend today who has a son with autism, and they are very appreciative that a range of organisations are embracing inclusivity. As they put it to me, it is important that people who do not have disability understand the needs of people with disability so that everybody can participate, because we know that play is very important to children and to their development. The message, in terms of inclusion, is incredibly important, I think, for people with disability to be embraced by everybody.

We already have the Hendrie Street playground at Park Holme. The Quentin Kenihan Inclusive Playspace is under development by the Adelaide city council and the Bonython Park playground. I was also speaking to Maurice Corcoran, the previous community visitor. I am aware that there are playgrounds at Semaphore that he has appreciated as a person who is a wheelchair user: people often do not think about the fact that parents with disabilities need to access play as well.

We are very excited about these guidelines; we look forward to a number of organisations using them as they develop their playgrounds into the future and that children are able to fully participate with the rest of the community.