Period Products and Facilities (Access) Bill

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. C. BONAROS (16:36): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to provide free access to period products, facilities and information about menstruation and for other purposes. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. C. BONAROS (16:37): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I rise today to introduce this piece of legislation, designed to address period poverty by ensuring free access to essential period products, appropriate facilities and menstrual health information in a range of public places. The bill mandates access for students, patients, visitors and individuals in key community locations. It enshrines appropriate access of facilities for public employees at their workplaces. It defines, importantly, period poverty as affecting those who are unable to access when needed any of the following: period products, menstrual hygiene information, toilets, handwashing facilities and sanitary waste facilities.

These are basic necessities in life, not luxuries, and without them people are missing out on the very basics of life. I have said this many times in and out of the chamber: no-one should be forced to stay home from school, skip work or avoid participating in community life simply because they cannot afford or do not have access to these essentials. Undeniably, it is a matter of dignity and equality—something that is also encapsulated in the bill.

It enshrines principles of dignity in its implementation. It acknowledges economic disadvantage and that different aspects of a person's identity, which may be sexual orientation, gender identity, mental health, nationality or religion, may worsen period poverty. It also acknowledges a person accessing period products should be given a reasonable amount of privacy and access in a way that avoids humiliation and enables age-appropriate decision-making amongst other things.

Dignity means ensuring that every person can manage their periods safely and hygienically without embarrassment or hardship. It means creating an environment where no-one is forced to choose between food and period products.

The government is currently promoting its inaugural Women's Week, and we have heard a lot about gender equity and supporting women and girls. I really think it is time we put our money where our mouths are on this issue. A week of celebrations means little if it is not backed by concrete measures that improve lives beyond these seven days. Confidence, dignity, practical, compassionate solutions are what this bill seeks to deliver.

Toilet paper—and I have said this a million times in this place—is freely available in public facilities because it is a necessity. So why not pads and tampons? This morning, I delivered a box to certain ministerial offices. Inside that box there was toilet paper, pads and tampons, and a note attached that read: one of these is free; the others should be.

Half of the population never have to consider whether they will bleed through their clothes at school or work. Half of the population do not have to think about skipping sport or staying home due to a biological function they cannot control. This is absolutely an equality issue, and it is time we addressed it.

The bill seeks to build on the small progress we have made, and I will take this opportunity to acknowledge the work of other members in this place, in particular the Hon. Irene Pnevmatikos, who I had the pleasure of working with on this issue, the previous Minister for Education, and also the Minister for Emergency and Correctional Services, Ms Bourke, on this most important issue—all wonderful work, but the progress has been piecemeal, and we still continue, despite the great work that has been done, to rely on charities to fill the immense gaps. We have taken tiny steps, but it is time to make the giant leap.

I have spoken with the Minister for Education today, and I was fortunate enough to bump into him on my round of deliveries, but I also had a meeting with him. Can I just say for the record, more credit to Minister Boyer and Minister Picton for all their hard work in this space, because they have been doing the heavy lifting behind the scenes in terms of ensuring that there are accessible products available in our schools.

I am pleased to report, following the meeting that I had with Minister Boyer, the Minister for Education—and I think we both acknowledged that what we have done to date is a great first step—that the next step in terms of what Education proposes to do is to put out a school survey to all students to see how things are tracking when it comes to our public schools and the provision that is being made to date there. It is something that I know that they are watching closely and are committed to addressing, and this bill certainly goes further than just our schools.

I also acknowledge, of course, the work of Minister Picton in this area who—I think I can also share this with all of us in here—has instructed public hospitals across the state to ensure accessible period products are in our public hospitals. They are great initiatives, and feed into, I suppose, the framework of this bill and what other jurisdictions have been doing, but those are only two examples, and there are many more we need to canvas.

The bill ensures that period products will be available free of charge in all appropriate public places. This might be community facilities, such as libraries and healthcare centres, hospitals—like I said—and approved treatment centres for patients and visitors, and government and non-government schools for students.

The proposal under the bill involves the chief executive having administrative responsibility effectively to an application, who then adds it to the list of public places and ensures that period products are available at that place free of charge. Whilst it stops short of providing free products at all public sector and government workplaces, it does enshrine access to toilets and to handwashing and sanitary waste disposal consistent with the objects of the act and principles of dignity. It also requires that menstrual health information is available in a variety of formats, in a variety of languages and age-appropriate resources.

The model I speak of is based on the ACT's already-enacted legislation where free period products are available in courts, in public libraries, in schools, in child and family care centres and in public housing facilities, to name a few. We had the opportunity to lead in this area and I am disappointed that we missed it. What we do have now is the opportunity to move forward from where we are presently and indeed follow the lead of other jurisdictions like the ACT, Victoria and New South Wales, which have absolutely catapulted ahead of South Australia in terms of universal access and eliminating period poverty.

Every month, 1.8 billion people around the world menstruate. Period poverty is a global issue, but we can take real tangible steps right here in South Australia. We started this fight with a focus on girls missing school because they did not have access to period products off the back of the work that was done by Commissioner Connolly, but the issue we know goes much deeper. It affects participation, as I have said, in sports, in work, in education, and indeed in public everyday life. It is a matter of basic human dignity and that is what this bill seeks to enshrine.

As I have said, it is a framework, a skeleton, if you like, of things that we can do based on legislation elsewhere, and of course I am more than willing to work with the government, the opposition and the crossbench to further refine and implement it effectively in this jurisdiction based on any particular needs we may have. I think overall, given that we are now lagging behind, it is fair to say that the time for small steps has passed. The time for action is now for South Australia to join those jurisdictions leading the way in gender equity, dignity and compassion.

I will touch just briefly again on the ACT. This is the jurisdiction we have modelled these laws on. In New South Wales and Victoria, you now have schools, hospitals, libraries, TAFEs, train stations, cultural institutions, the courts, all providing period products. Victoria is providing free products through vending machines in public places across the state, with 50 machines having been installed and rolled out across metropolitan Melbourne during stage 1. They have worked closely with local councils, health services, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, people experiencing poverty and homelessness, young people, people with disability, people who identify as LGBTIQ+, researchers, professionals, peak bodies and menstrual health experts, amongst others.

The lists are readily available when you go to those jurisdictions and have a look in terms of locating where you can pick up these products. The idea is really one of not just destigmatising or providing universal access to period products but improving health outcomes, normalising access and providing health support and education around periods and all that comes with that—and there is a lot that comes with that. We can be doing so much more and need to be doing so much more.

In New South Wales, delivering personalised care and outcomes that matter to patients and the community is understood as being something that is necessary for the holistic wellbeing of an individual. For people who menstruate, access to period products is recognised as an essential need. All New South Wales Health services, affiliated health organisations and community health centres are actually required to provide access to free pads and tampons for patients who are unable to supply their own.

To support access, the local health networks have brochures and bulletins that have to be distributed across the health network to ensure that all health workers are aware of their obligations to ensure that supply and the provision of information to staff is readily available, particularly in terms of how to order more products and what sorts of products patients need, and to consider whether additional training or information is required for staff to address barriers in accessing period products, particularly targeting priority populations and priority settings.

The aim of New South Wales Health's program is to reduce barriers that exist at the moment, like the sense of shame, discomfort, stigma, financial constraints, instability, communication barriers and lack of care or support persons to purchase products. As I said before, I am thrilled that our minister here has taken the very necessary step of issuing the direction that products are to be available across all South Australian public hospitals in appropriate places.

I am also more than happy to give Minister Blair Boyer a shout-out for everything that he is doing in this space in terms of ensuring that our schools have adequate provision and that it is tailored to work for the students in each of our public schools, but that is the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we need to do.

I note that in South Australia, Shared Services actually has come on board again to support Share the Dignity, and they accept donations at their branches. Under the ACT, Victorian and New South Wales models, in all likelihood you could actually walk into somewhere like Shared Services, if we were to adopt that approach, and be able to access those products for use. That is what we are trying to achieve.

With those words, I ask everybody—government, opposition and crossbench included—to keep a really open mind on this bill. I know we do not need to do this through legislation, but the benefits of legislation are actually acknowledging that we are committed to ending period poverty and committed to universal access to period products, and that we elevate the discussion. We know that, once we elevate the discussion and we put some parameters and frameworks around it, it becomes normal. Nothing that I can think of deserves to become more normal than something that affects so many individuals in our population and adversely impacts so many individuals in our population, namely, period poverty.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I.K. Hunter.