Autism

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (15:26): For those who do not know, we reached the end of World Autism Month as of today. Following on from World Autism Awareness Day on 2 April, the month of April is celebrated as a world autism awareness and acceptance month. However, while it is great to have a dedicated day and month to celebrate autism awareness, the Premier and this government have a policy agenda that extends beyond the month of April.

Eighteen months ago, this government became the first in the world to dedicate a policy portfolio to autism and to one member of government. Over this period of time, the autistic and autism communities have shared stories describing challenges, barriers, opportunity and success, but there is one word that pops up far too frequently, a word that frankly does not sit well with me, and that is 'luck'.

Luck is a word used flippantly, a word we all use to excuse misfortune or to celebrate success. But what if it was by luck that you were noticed, seen, heard and now feel that you belong? This is a story shared with me by many people in the autistic community, including Jack Herzich. Growing up, Jack always felt he had many differences to other children, and these differences became more apparent when he started kindergarten and school. His mum had many concerns but was unable to find the right support for Jack and someone to listen.

In 2013, Jack moved to a new public school in the northern suburbs. It was at this school that Jack found the teacher who would change his life: Mrs Parsons. It was Mrs Parsons who had the knowledge to see what so many had missed. She encouraged Jack's mum to seek an autism assessment for Jack, and by doing so, Jack discovered who he is: he is autistic. What followed was life-changing for Jack. The correct supports and therapies were put into place, and just last year, Jack graduated from school and is now in his first year of university. He is repaying Mrs Parsons's gift of knowledge in the greatest way possible: Jack is studying to be a teacher.

But when Jack shares his story, he credits his success to luck; luck that he found the right teacher who had knowledge and understanding, and luck that he was able to have access to an autism assessment while he was young. We cannot rely on luck to be the enabler of success. Success can come from policies that help replace chance, and with policies we can go to the core of the problem. We must start by replacing the word 'luck' with knowledge.

To Jack and the many who have shared their stories with me, this government sees you, we hear you and we are listening. We have launched the state's first Autism Inclusion Charter to build knowledge across government, to help change the narrative for the largest disability group in our community, the autistic community. I again congratulate and thank the crossbenchers for supporting the signing of that pledge and share my disappointment again with the opposition for not signing that pledge, a pledge that is not based on luck but a pledge developed through the knowledge of the autistic and autism communities.

It is the knowledge we are building that is changing the luck narrative. It is changing stories like Jack's. We are replacing luck with knowledge, and by doing so we are changing the stories and experiences of many in our community. We are doing this through the creation of the nation's largest autism inclusion network of teachers in our public primary schools, and we are doing this by changing university degrees so that our teachers come out of universities at the end of this year with knowledge, for the very first time, in disability, autism and inclusive studies.

This has not been done in any other state that I am aware of, where all four universities have come together and made an agreement to upgrade their university agendas. This can only be achieved when we have a government willing to bring people to the table and have this conversation, have a conversation about changing luck and building knowledge in our community.