Bills

Education and Children's Services (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 2 February 2021.)

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (16:13): I indicate that I am the lead speaker on behalf of the opposition for this bill. The opposition supports this bill. We note that it passed the house quickly before the Christmas break, and the opposition does not intend to prolong its passage. We are advised that the need for the amendment bill is the result of some technical and legal changes identified after the whole bill was rewritten and that all are based on Crown advice.

Apparently, without these changes there can be some unintended consequences. We know parliamentary counsel are perfect most of the time, but obviously not all of the time. I indicate that we do not expect to make any contributions at the committee stage, but we are happy to move to that as soon as possible.

The Hon. C. BONAROS (16:14): I rise very briefly to indicate our support for the second reading of the Education and Children's Services (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2020. It follows on from the recent legislative overhaul of education under the new Education and Children's Services Act. We do not have any issues with the issues that have been raised with us regarding the very technical nature of the amendments and the tidy-ups included in this bill. They all appear to be sensible, practical and necessary. I do not believe, from anything that we were briefed about, that there is anything to be concerned about, other than those technical aspects of the bill.

While I am my feet I will take the opportunity to mention that I did have a separate briefing today with the Minister for Education and his departmental staff. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Minister Gardner's new and improved stance on addressing period poverty within South Australian schools. It is a very good first step, and I have said that to him, but that is about all it is right now.

There is a long way to go before I am pleased and before we tackle period poverty seriously in this jurisdiction, but I think the first hurdle that we had to overcome was having the minister and his department acknowledge and appreciate that this is a very real issue that impacts thousands of South Australian schoolkids every single day and means that there are equally as many who are missing out on a full education because of their inability to partake in school activities as a result of their menstruation.

I am pleased that the minister has finally agreed to tackle this. I have given him the benefit of the doubt. I have told him that we will be keeping a close watch on this, and I am sure my colleague the Hon. Irene Pnevmatikos, who co-sponsored the period poverty bill with me, will be doing the same, to ensure that we end up with a policy in place that works effectively, a policy that will be subject to some rigour and some further reviews. It is fair to say that this has just been announced. There is a lot of work to be done before we can review whether what the government has proposed so far makes a dent in the problem of period property.

Speaking to the minister today, I think it is fair to say that, again, he acknowledges that this is an issue that has to be addressed and that it is his department's responsibility to ensure that that is done. Short of moving amendments to this bill that would address the issue of period property, I have agreed to give the minister the benefit of the doubt and allow him to undertake these initial few months of implementing a scheme and then undertake some reviews and consultation with students and with teachers and with schools—but particularly with students—to see how effectively that is working, to see whether the money that has been allocated is enough.

In my personal opinion, and this is something that I discussed with the minister, there is a far cry difference between the $450,000 that we have committed over three years to the $20.5-odd million that the Andrews government has committed over four years for the same sort of process. One is tackling period poverty and providing free universal access across all schools, the other is aiming to fill the gaps of where there is a need.

There is a big difference between the two models. I take the minister at his word when he says that he is open to looking at this further. If it transpires that we have not put anywhere near enough funds towards this and we need to tackle it more head-on, then that is something that we will become aware of in term 3, I think, and there will be further announcements to follow.

So I am happy to not hit the pause button but to give the minister the opportunity to do something in the meantime. Something is better than absolutely nothing, in my view. As I said, I think this is a good first step. I think it has been welcomed by the schools and by the students. I think they will be surprised by the level of uptake by those schools and by those students when those products are made available.

I think this fits in well with the work that the Commissioner for Children and Young People has been undertaking for quite a while. Given that there is multipartisan support on this issue, I am keen that we get the input and the feedback from the commissioner because she is very well placed to brief all of us on how these things are working and how they are failing our students.

With those words, I indicate again our support for this bill. We will not be moving any amendments, but we will follow the progress of the rollout of the government's proposal for free sanitary products in schools very closely and look forward to very timely updates from the minister in relation to that.

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (16:20): In closing the debate, I recognise that we are all in furious agreement. I thank the Hon. Clare Scriven and the Hon. Connie Bonaros for their contributions and for the indications that their respective parliamentary groups will be supporting the bill. I also share the Hon. Clare Scriven's assessment that parliamentary counsel is approaching perfection.

In relation to the comments of the Hon. Connie Bonaros, I agree that the bill is sensible, practical and necessary. I also agree that the period poverty initiative of the education minister is a great initiative from a great minister. I acknowledge that she will be looking forward to following the implementation. Of course, we would hope for nothing less. With those remarks, I look forward to further consideration of the bill in the committee stage.

Bill read a second time.

Committee Stage

Bill taken through committee without amendment.

Third Reading

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (16:23): I move:

That this bill be now read a third time.

Bill read a third time and passed.