Adult Safeguarding Unit

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (14:52): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing regarding adult safeguarding.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: The disability royal commission is again highlighting the issue of the vulnerability of people with a disability and older Australians. Will the minister update the council on government efforts to stop elder abuse?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:53): I thank the honourable member for his question. In March 2018, the Marshall Liberal team was elected to government with a strong mandate to stop elder abuse and safeguard the rights of older South Australians and other vulnerable members of our community. We received that clear mandate in the shadow of Oakden and the former government's underinvestment in, and lack of focus on, vulnerable people.

From day one, the Marshall Liberal government has worked to strengthen and expand protections and services for vulnerable South Australians. That's why in our first 100 days in government we introduced the nation-first legislation to protect vulnerable adults in South Australia and we committed $2.6 million in our first budget to establish the Adult Safeguarding Unit and give it the people and resources it needs to respond to reports of abuse, neglect and mistreatment.

The Adult Safeguarding Unit commenced operations in October 2019 with an initial focus on responding to concerns and allegations of neglect or abuse of adults 65 years of age or older, or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders 50 years of age or older. Last year, in response to the tragic death of Ann Marie Smith, the Marshall government again took swift action, expanding the unit's legal authority to include adults living with a disability and providing an additional $3.5 million over four years to support that additional work.

Since the Adult Safeguarding Unit commenced operations on 1 October 2019, it has taken more than 2,400 calls from people concerned enough to pick up the phone and seek advice or assistance, either for themselves or for somebody they know. Strengthening the ability of every South Australian to recognise the signs and symptoms of possible elder abuse is crucial. People need to have the confidence to recognise elder abuse, to call it out when they see it and to pick up the phone and call the South Australian Abuse Prevention Phone Line, the confidential statewide service operated by the Adult Safeguarding Unit.

Each year, to complement its ongoing education advocacy work, the Office for Ageing Well runs a Stop Elder Abuse community awareness campaign to remind every South Australian that older people have rights, that those rights need to be safeguarded and protected and what to do if they experience or observe abuse. This year's campaign started on 10 May and runs through to 20 June. During the six-week campaign, information and messages about elder abuse are being widely distributed through social and digital media, local radio spots and regional newspapers.

Past experience confirms that campaigns such as this work. Every year, when the campaign is running, the number of calls to the Abuse Prevention Phone Line increases. Over the last year and a half, every South Australian has had to focus a great deal of their time and energy on dealing with COVID. As a state, we have done well, but those efforts and that success cannot be at the expense of our other responsibilities and challenges, like confronting elder abuse.

We need to be realistic in these uncertain times. We need to remember that 80 per cent of elder abuse is committed by a family member, with 50 per cent of that abuse being financial abuse. In the wake of the impacts of COVID, it is not hard to imagine someone putting pressure on an elderly family member or an acquaintance for support, financial support that they may not want or be in a position to give but which they feel pressured to provide.

If someone you know is experiencing that type of elder abuse, or any type of elder abuse, I would encourage South Australians to pick up the phone and call the Abuse Prevention Phone Line, or consider calling the phone line yourself and finding out what options might be available, what steps you might be able to take to protect the person involved.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Pangallo has a supplementary.