Autism Strategy

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:52): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking questions of the Minister for Autism regarding the autism and autistic community.

Leave granted.

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO: Paige Carter was front and centre at the launch of the Labor Party's Autism Strategy. Yet, during an interview on ABC Drive, she stated that she now feels used by the Labor Party. Speaking on ABC radio on Wednesday 11 June, Ms Carter said that many in the autism and autistic community were initially overjoyed—finally, someone appeared ready to listen. But her optimism has turned to disappointment. She said, and I quote:

I strongly believe they did it to win. They didn't do it to help our children. They did it because there's a large Autistic community out there that needed help and would cling to hope.

When asked if she felt used, her response was clear:

Absolutely. I feel like my son who was four at the time was used by the Government.

My questions to the minister are:

1. What is being done to address the real concerns raised by Paige Carter and others within the autistic and autism community who feel that this government, the Office of Autism and the education department have let their children down?

2. Why did it take Paige going on radio for the minister to reach out to her personally?

3. Does Paige and the community she represents deserve a formal apology from the minister?

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (Minister for Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Autism, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:53): Thank you for your question. Do I feel I have used the autistic community, and does the government feel that? Absolutely not. When we were elected, we came into government with a small number of policies. Those policies were developed in opposition and we brought them in when we came to government.

Those policies could have just stayed as that handful of policies that we brought in, but when I became the assistant minister it became very clear—because we worked with the autistic community, as we continue to do—that there was a much bigger role to play here and that just starting and staying with those original policies wasn't going to be enough.

If you have ever been to a community forum of mine, which I know those opposite wouldn't have been because you have only been to a couple that I have been at and you haven't acknowledged something that the autistic community has actually asked for the opposition to acknowledge, which is to sign a charter that they co-designed.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE: Give me time.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE: I will, don't you worry.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE: In doing so, those who have signed a piece of paper—to your point—over 2,000 people have been trained now across government and in other areas in our community to have knowledge. Five hundred people in one forum have been trained to have knowledge in autism, who are leaders in our state, leaders who employ many people in our state who now have knowledge in autism so that they can better support people so that when they do apply for a job they might think about different ways of having that job interview.

Going back to your question, in our community we have a lot of change that needs to happen and it is going to take a long time. At these forums that I have been going to, I have acknowledged just that. This is going to take time. This is decades and decades of learning a particular way that needs to be addressed. The only way that we can address that is to start from the beginning, and that is to build knowledge.

I know those opposite might think, 'What is building knowledge?' but we can't say that we need to change the outcomes in our classrooms if we don't actually step in and start providing knowledge, so that is exactly what we are doing. We have done that by: in our first year of coming into this role, over 99 per cent, I believe, of primary schools in our public primary school system had access to an autism inclusion teacher—over 99 per cent. That's not a bad outcome in one year. That's not finding a magical workforce who have knowledge in autism; that is about taking a teacher out of the classroom, backfilling them, giving them time, and a government investing $28.8 million over four years so that that teacher can have time to build knowledge in autism.

What did we find when we did that? We started to find changes. This is a big community. There is at least one autistic child in every classroom. How do we support all of them? It will take time because we have to give that skill set to our teachers so that they can better understand how to use those new skills and new knowledge and that new opportunity that brings understanding. It will take time.

What we know is that we have made a start. Not only have we done that in our classrooms, we have then said to our universities, 'We have teachers coming into our school system.' This was not an election commitment; this has come about because we have done these changes. We have gone to our universities and said, 'Something is not working here. We have teachers coming into our school system without knowledge. How do we go about changing that?' So we have been looking to achieve that as well. We had our four universities come together over two years ago to start putting some of those changes into our teachers' degrees. We have made many policies that have come about from these learnings. This has not been about anyone using anyone. This is about us listening to the community.

In regard to Paige and Oaklan, I met them very early on in this journey, and I've continued to meet with them. I haven't just popped up now, seen them and had a conversation with them right now; I have been having this conversation with them for years. I am not going to stand in here and start talking about what is happening and what's not happening for Oaklan. I will continue to do what I do. I will continue to do what we have done—

The Hon. H.M. Girolamo: Well, she is raising concerns and had to go to the radio—

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE: —and work with that family, just like we made sure there was a package and support in place before Oaklan even started school. So I am not going to let you lecture me about not providing support because—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE: It's not about providing support for an individual. You have suggested that we have used someone and we have not—

The Hon. H.M. Girolamo: I have not suggested that; she has suggested that on the radio.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE: I am suggesting there has been a big change because of this policy agenda and we have a long way to go, but there is a start and at least we have started, at least we are willing to sign a charter to say that we are making change and made a commitment to do just that.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Sit down. The Hon. Mr Hanson, I am not giving you a supplementary question when your leader is shouting across the chamber.

The Hon. R.P. Wortley: You've got egg on your face, all of you.

The PRESIDENT: No, I don't need you to interact.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!