Bills

Social Workers Registration (Commencement) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 28 September 2023.)

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (15:55): The Social Workers Registration Act 2021, which was passed in 2021, intended to establish and maintain a registration system for social workers and to safeguard the public interest by ensuring that only suitably trained and qualified persons can practice as social workers. This sector has been advocating for registration for over 20 years now.

This act was a long time coming, and it is a little frustrating to see its enactment delayed once more. Social workers operating in the public departments of health, human services, child protection and education, as well as plenty of private and non-profit operators, are asking for the same security and assurances as other registered professionals.

This amendment bill is being introduced seeking to defer the legislation's commencement date to a time set by proclamation. To certify that an operational registration scheme is in place at the time the act commences, the bill is structured to ensure that the foundations have been properly laid for the scheme prior to the commencement of the act. The amendment bill will make an amendment to section 68 of the act to ensure that the regulation-making power of the principal act is maintained in the act as amended.

The transitional provisions would enable the registration scheme to be introduced using a staged approach. Additionally, it could be argued that the staged implementation approach would prioritise systems and structures to make it consistent with a future national approach. Specifically, this bill we are dealing with today, the Social Workers Registration (Commencement) Amendment Bill 2023, is intended to amend two sections of the Social Workers Registration Act 2021.

The first amendment is to amend section 2 of the principal act to disapply section 27(6) of the Legislation Interpretation Act 2021 in relation to the commencement of the act, the operation of which would have seen the act automatically commencing on the second anniversary of its assent. The proposed amendment will instead allow the act to be brought into operation by proclamation after that second anniversary. The second amendment makes a substantial amendment to the transitional regulation-making power in section 68 of the principal act to reflect the amendment made by this measure.

The Liberal Party supports this bill. It is important to ensure safety and security for both practising social workers and those they serve. We do have some questions for the committee stage, particularly around the need for this bill and the need for the deferring of the legislation's commencement date. Having been advocated for by the industry for approximately 20 years now, and the legislation having been worked on thoroughly from 2018 to 2022, we believe that the former minister, working with current colleagues such as the Hon. Tammy Franks and the Hon. Connie Bonaros, got it right.

So, indeed, we will have a question or two in the committee stage, as I am sure my hardworking colleagues will have also, about why the delay in the commencement is required, but with that, I commend the bill to the chamber.

The Hon. S.L. GAME (15:59): I rise briefly to support this bill. This bill amends the Social Workers Registration Act 2021. The Social Workers Registration Act 2021 was assented to on 9 December 2021 and is due to commence on its two-year anniversary, as required under section 27(6) of the Legislation Interpretation Act 2021, on 9 December 2023.

The introduction of a social worker registration scheme was supported by both major political parties in South Australia and the Greens on the basis that the registration of social workers will have a range of benefits, including improved public safety, higher standards of conduct and accountability through the provision of accessible mechanisms for complaints and review, and improved professional development opportunities for people within the profession.

While insufficient jurisdictional support exists at present for a national scheme, it will be important that the South Australian scheme is implemented in a way that positions it for transition to a national approach at a later stage, should one subsequently be adopted.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (16:00): I begin my remarks by acknowledging the extraordinary and valuable work that the Australian Association of Social Workers and its members do each and every day. It may surprise members of the community but it is no surprise to members of this council that there is currently no form of legal professional registration for social workers in Australia, despite many organisations, parties, reports and individuals calling for this reform for decades.

I introduced my original bill in 2018 to ensure the registration of social workers in this state, and it went to a joint committee that reported at the end of 2020. That joint committee unanimously endorsed the report and presented back to the parliament a draft bill that came out of it. All members in this council across all parties supported that piece of legislation. I would draw this council's attention to these lines from the report of that 2020 joint committee. It states:

In the absence of a federal scheme, submissions to the inquiry overwhelmingly expressed support for a state-based system of registration. The Committee notes that registration will not, in and of itself, automatically ensure safe and effective social work practice. The recent coronial inquests, while calling for social work registration, have been critical of, among other things, the child protection system's lack of understanding of, and compliance with, its statutory obligations. Notwithstanding, the Committee is of the view that legislative reform is urgently needed. It considers that the proposed legislation will provide a solid framework towards improving the accountability and standards of the social work profession.

I repeat: that committee was of the view that legislative reform was urgently needed. We did the groundwork across parties, consulted extensively through the committee process and created through this parliament an act which can lead the nation in this reform.

The Australian Association of Social Workers has been pursuing registration of social workers as a means of enforcing safe and competent practice, and it further protects the public from practitioners who breach those ethical standards. Yet, the scheme has been met with a brick wall when it comes to actually implementing it. It was assented to in December 2021. Our next state election was in March 2022, and here we are in October 2023 still waiting.

The department has only just in September this year—last month—appointed the director. There has been a quite unreasonable delay in getting the scheme in progress. We have a minister who is also Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing juggling with Child Protection. She is juggling two quite conflicting portfolios in terms of workload, and it seems to be here reflected in the ability for her to actually meet her obligations.

While clients of child protection services are some of the most vulnerable in our society, social workers practise in a diverse range of settings, including family violence, disability, mental health, family support, education, drug and alcohol services, and housing, just to name a few. This scheme would be better placed in Human Services or Health, who of course deal with this broader range of issues. Given that the child protection portfolio has delivered us not an announcement, a ministerial statement announcing the commencement of this act, but a request to the parliament for more time to start the act, I think we have to be asking whether or not this act has been placed in the correct portfolio.

The government is pushing the scheme back, not for the first time but, ideally, for the last time. Hopefully, South Australia will lead the way. The Association of Social Workers has been calling for this reform for literally decades. Social workers work with extremely vulnerable clients and, without the registration of social workers, these people could be at risk of poor, unethical practice. That is on our watch if we do not ensure safeguards. It is time that we just got on with it. Certainly, this is a prelude to seeing social workers registered across Australia, and the profession given not only the respect it deserves but the protections that are required.

I will be asking questions of the government as to what work they have done, not just in implementing the scheme here, which clearly they are now asking us for an extension of time to do, but at what levels they have raised this with their federal counterparts at ministerial councils. With that, I do support the bill. As the person who initiated this debate in this parliament through a private member's bill—it was a Greens bill that eventually passed the parliament under the last government, from that report—we then expected the then minister, the previous Minister for Child Protection, the then member for Adelaide, who is no longer in this parliament, to lead the debate.

I again thank the member for Hurtle Vale, now Minister for Human Services, who worked with me to effect this change through the parliament. It was not an easy process, although when it came down to it no-one could really argue against it, but it was delay after delay after delay, and unfortunately we are seeing that here again now. This is incredibly disappointing.

I urge the Malinauskas government to take this issue more seriously and look forward to potentially this act being under the administration of a different minister in the future, and for the South Australian leadership to be properly and strongly advocated for at a federal level to ensure that other states and territories right across this country follow our lead, reap the harvest of the hard work that that joint committee did here in South Australia, taking submissions not just from South Australia but from right around the country, and that we get on with the job of ensuring that people are protected and that social workers are respected.

The Hon. C. BONAROS (16:07): I rise to speak briefly on behalf of SA-Best on the Social Workers Registration (Commencement) Amendment Bill 2023. At the outset, not only do I support and echo the sentiments just expressed by the Hon. Tammy Franks but I thank her on behalf of SA-Best for all her hard work in this area, for bringing this issue to this place and for seeing through the process that we have been through to date.

I can imagine that the honourable member is extraordinarily frustrated that this proposal, which had unanimous support, is now before us for the purposes of extending the time frame for another 18 months. That is bitterly disappointing. We know that without this bill we would end up having a piece of legislation that comes in with none of the framework that is required around it, and so our hands are somewhat tied in that respect because if we do not do this we are going to have a problem on our hands but, by the same respect, as the Hon. Tammy Franks has said, we never should have been in this position in the first instance.

We have had ample time to bring everything that is required around this legislation into place. It beggars belief that the former minister, who indeed insisted on being part of that committee process—as was I, together with the Hon. Tammy Franks and the Hon. Irene Pnevmatikos, who unfortunately has also left us—who said she was so interested in this process and needed to be on that committee to hear everything that was going to be said, and all the justifications for it, lost her seat and we are no closer to getting this scheme up off the ground. That is an extraordinary state of affairs.

Since then, of course, we have a new government which, I think it is probably fair to say, picked up the legislation and saw that, from my understanding, nothing had been done in the intervening period. Nothing had been done other than the passage of this bill through this parliament. It was just left to sit there. They have picked that up, but that does not also dismiss the fact that we are still waiting for a scheme to be implemented, notwithstanding that we have a new minister and notwithstanding that we have a new government.

I have asked those questions of the advisers and I appreciate that there are two things at play here. I appreciate that they have had to find a CE and that they then have to go through the process of appointing an independent board. There are guidelines that have to be implemented and there are fees and registrars that need to be appointed. They also want to provide a reasonable opportunity for the registration of social workers and give them an appropriate lead-in time to be able to do that.

The cynic in me would say we have already had that time available to us, but they have said, 'Look, that process is going to take us a maximum of another 18 months.' My hope is that it will happen well within the 18 months, not another 18 months of waiting. The other issue at play at the same time has been that we have been pushing for a nationally consistent scheme. I really hope that the delays in this bill have not been purely based on seeing that national model get off the ground and that there is not any suggestion that, 'We have this here, we will just see how we go at the national level and if that does not get up off the ground we will buy ourselves some more time.'

I certainly hope that has not been the case. I do understand that those discussions have been taking place at the same time. I certainly understand that there is still an appetite to have a nationally consistent approach. That is something that we have all said from the outset that we all agree with, but in the absence of that, or if that process is to take some time, then what we know is that we have the opportunity to set up a first here and to get it right.

If the government is now telling us, 'Well that's going to take us a maximum of another 18 months,' then that is what we are going to have to support. It does not mean that we have to be happy about that process, because we never should have got to that point in the first place. So my words to the government are to impress upon you the importance of doing this in a very timely manner. We know what the outcome of that review was. We know what the unanimous support of this legislation was. There have been many calls for the registration of social workers for 20 years now and we urgently need the framework for mandatory registration, binding professional standards and consequences for breaches, amongst other things.

As I have said, the former child protection minister was part of that process. I am just hoping that with the appointment now under this minister of the new chief executive, there is going to be movement. I am comforted by the discussions I had today in terms of saying, 'Well, these are all the things we are looking at doing and at the same time obviously still pursuing the issue of a national scheme.' That CE will be tasked with the establishment, development and implementation of the scheme, including the appointment of the independent board and registrar. There is unanimous support for this. We are giving the government a grace period, without which they would be—

The Hon. T.A. Franks: I was told 18 months. I was told much quicker than that, so that is concerning to me.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: I was told a maximum of 18 months. I asked several questions today as to what could possibly take that long. I think it is fair to say that the response I got was, 'We don't anticipate it to take that long, but we don't want to run the risk just in case it takes us that long.' That was concerning to me. I understand what the individuals in front of me were saying, but that does not alleviate my concerns about this scheme coming into place in a timely manner.

I would be urging the government, and I am hoping the Hon. Tammy Franks will ask some questions of this very shortly, to heed the concerns of members in this place who have not only given you the benefit of additional time but also are relying on the government to do what it needs to do in a much more timely time frame than what is being proposed at the moment. Let's just get on with the job of what we should have had finished in two months' time, because that was the original deadline. December of this year was the original deadline. Eighteen months away from now is a far cry from how we thought and how long we thought it would take to get this scheme into place.

I will say that it is one of the things we need to be mindful of when we are passing laws in this place because we know that there is a two-year time frame that applies, and in many cases—and we have seen this before—we do get into the habit, governments do get into the habit, of not doing much until they reach the end of that two-year time frame because they have other competing interests, and then we get to the two-year mark and all of a sudden there is a requirement on them to implement a scheme which they have done bugger all on in terms of work.

I am not suggesting for a moment that that is the case here—and this is no criticism of the CE who has been appointed or anyone who is working on this—but I am bringing this to the government's attention and saying, 'I think 18 months is a stretch for something that should have been implemented by the end of this year.' So those questions will be put to the minister, I am sure, very shortly. We will seek clarification in relation to what the Hon. Tammy Franks has received, and what I have received in terms of feedback, and we will proceed from there.

In closing, I once again want to commend the Hon. Tammy Franks not only for raising this issue in this place and managing to get unanimous support from this parliament for this most important proposal but for seeing it through and insisting and agitating the way that she has on such an important issue. I thank her. I think we all owe her a gratitude of thanks for her work, and I will be seeking some clarification, together I am sure with the member from the minister responsible, shortly.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (16:17): I would like to thank the Hon. Ms Centofanti, the Hon. Sarah Game, the Hon. Tammy Franks and the Hon. Connie Bonaros for their contributions. As has been mentioned, this is designed to improve public safety, high standards of conduct and accountability through the provision of accessible mechanisms for complaints and review, and improved professional development opportunities for people within the profession, and that is why the desire of the government is that we do get this right because it is so important, and that the delay that has been outlined will provide the time for it to be put in place in an appropriate manner. I commend the bill to the chamber.

Bill read a second time.

Committee Stage

In committee.

Clause 1.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: I note from the contributions of other members that they had been informed by the government that it was anticipated that 18 months would be the time needed to bring this act to fruition. I also note that the commencement clause does not provide for a date but simply refers to proclamation.

I was not informed by the government that they anticipated this would take 18 months. I also note that we did not appoint Sarah Wendt to the position until last month, and yet Cathy Taylor, the previous chief executive, had informed me at a Budget and Finance Committee earlier this year that the appointment of that position was only weeks away—back in February, I believe.

I am not willing to trust the government on this at this point. I would like to move an amendment. I understand that parties will not have had the opportunity to debate that amendment, but I would seek the assistance of parliamentary counsel to draft an amendment to ensure that 1 January 2025 is the date that would be the latest possible date that this act could come into effect, rather than giving the government yet another blank cheque that they may well never cash.

At this point, unless this parliament ensures that this act has to come into force on a particular day, I cannot trust the government on this. I do note that it is not the minister in the chamber. I was informed by the actual minister over the phone one day that it would not be very long, as she explained that she would not be in the parliament for the debate in the last sitting week on this bill.

I accept that the minister is in somewhat of a difficult position to be able to ensure these things, but I would flag that I will move to adjourn this debate to sort these things out, unless I can get a guarantee that we fix a date of no later than 1 January 2025.

Progress reported; committee to sit again.