Disability Services

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (14:54): My question is to the Minister for Human Services. Can the minister please update the chamber on how the Marshall Liberal government is moving swiftly to close safeguarding gaps for people living with a disability in South Australia?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:54): I thank the honourable member for her question. In response to the terrible and tragic death of Ann Marie Smith, the government did move very quickly to establish the Safeguarding Taskforce, which was so eminently co-chaired by Ms Kelly Vincent and Dr David Caudrey, who, with lived experience and with extensive experience in the sector with a group of other people similarly with lived experience and a range of public service appointments who represented across a range of areas, including legal and the like, put together two reports for us in relation to safeguarding gaps. The final one was received by the government on 31 July, and we still are receiving some supplementary remarks, which we will also provide through a supplementary report.

I might say, the final Safeguarding Taskforce report was quite similar to the report which was commissioned by the commonwealth government. The Hon. Alan Robertson, a former Federal Court judge, reported in September and identified similar issues in relation to that through the National Disability Insurance Scheme: people who are vulnerable need to be more readily identified and appropriate supports be in place. Particularly some of the early comments that came from members of the task force in response was the issue of having a sole support worker working with one person, which has been identified as a particular risk.

The government has responded and accepted all of the recommendations in principle. Naturally, some of them go to the commonwealth government for their implementation. The matters are to be discussed at a further meeting of the Disability Reform Council. In terms of the South Australian response, we have responded to the concerns of South Australians who wished for advocacy to continue to be funded in South Australia and, indeed, re-funded in terms of the individual advocacy.

Dr David Caudrey has been providing systemic advice to us and to the NDIA for some time, so his position continues. We have also allocated $400,000 a year for individual advocacy. Particularly during COVID, there are a range of people with disability who have been experiencing the need for that direct assistance. We have also acted on the recommendation in terms of the Adult Safeguarding Unit, which has been established for people over the age of 65. As of 1 October, it will be accepting people under the age of 65.

We are working through other areas which relate to how health interacts with people with disability, particularly with the commonwealth, given they have MBS items that are probably able to be utilised, to ensure that people are having regular checks. We continue to work through with the commonwealth in relation to the Community Visitor Scheme, where it is within scope for it to be able to visit people.

So we have responded very quickly to ensure that we have systems in place, where they are the responsibility of the state government, and we continue to work with the commonwealth, who have similar recommendations from the Robertson report. I note that Minister Robert said in response that the Tune review, which was tabled in February, I think it was, also went to some of the matters which cross over with safeguarding, particularly in relation to people who need case management. The commonwealth has been working on some of those matters already and will continue to work with states and territories for the appropriate improvements to safeguarding.