Personal Alert Systems Rebate Scheme

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (15:40): In regard to the announcement of the winning tender, all South Australian companies providing the current service, including the government's own SA Ambulance Service, missed out, and instead the two large interstate companies won the contract, so jobs and money are leaving the state again. Why has the minister allowed yet another service to be outsourced to interstate companies rather than supporting local jobs?

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Ms Scriven knows that the supplementary question should not have any explanation.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:41): I responded to this particular question on radio as well, but I am happy to repeat it in the council. The way that the tender was structured in terms of what we were looking for was that there was a range of things that were under consideration, including service provision, communications, the organisation's capacity to deliver, experience with the customer group and the ability to supply a range of devices for customers to choose from.

Feedback was sought from the existing service providers, so clearly they were invited to tender. Indeed, there was a 15 per cent rating in favour of South Australian companies. Ultimately, at the end of the day, it's about the service provision for people with lived experience. We also had, from what I understand, an older person who had been referred to that tender evaluation panel from COTA SA who participated in that. We would have liked South Australian companies to have been successful, obviously, but we did need to, consistent with procurement guidelines, utilise the points system and so the ones that were chosen were the organisations that came out with the highest points.

The PRESIDENT: Supplementary, the Hon. Ms Scriven.