Legislative Council Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2) 54 2 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Question Time Homelessness Alliances Homelessness Alliances The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS Legislative Council Homelessness Alliances The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS (14:52): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Human Services regarding human services. Leave granted. The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS Legislative Council The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS: Liberal members of parliament have now begun to send out set standard responses to people who want answers about the concerning homelessness reforms that have been implemented. We are informed that these reforms have occurred 'following extensive consultation and a competitive tender process'. Can the minister explain exactly how the competitive tender process worked in the four out of five regions where only one application was received? The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK Legislative Council Minister for Human Services The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:53): I thank the honourable member for her question. It gives me delight to provide a bit more detail to her in relation to the details of this particular process. I don't have the exact dates in front of me about when the tenders opened and closed, but we have been talking about this level of reform for some time. I think we had some discussions last year in here, possibly around September—in fact, it might have been closer to November—when the Housing Authority had been running workshops with the sector to talk to them about the alliance model so that it was well understood about how it operates and how that could and should look in South Australia. The tenders then opened some time late last year and closed earlier this year. The tenders were in a written form. They were provided to a tender panel, and the tender panel then went back to each of the bidders to talk to them in more detail to ensure that all of the elements that were in the request for tender were going to be met. That was to ensure that all of the services that people may need in their particular location are available to them rather than the current situation we have where we've got quite a fractured system where some people can get particular services depending on their circumstances or whether they are a young person or someone experiencing domestic and family violence. Within each region the services that should be provided to all cohorts include intake and referral; supported accommodation; supported housing packages; support in case management, which covers a lot of things including early intervention, support for children, intensive tenancy support and a range of other things as well; community development and education; and workforce training and development. So the full range of services was required to be met by the alliances that were to be accepted, and the advice I have received is that has been met to the satisfaction of the tender panel.