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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-07-06 Daily Xml
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Disability Engagement Register

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (15:03): My question is to the Minister for Disabilities. Can the minister tell the house about the Disability Engagement Register?

The Hon. L.A. VLAHOS (Taylor—Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (15:03): I thank the member for Reynell for her question and her interest in disability engagement. The South Australian government is committed to engaging with communities and stakeholders in decisions and, importantly, with people living with disabilities. Disability SA aims to connect people living with a disability, their carers and families, and the broader community and non-government sector together in a form that will help them to develop government policies, programs and service delivery across this state.

A key initiative to engage South Australians living with disabilities is the Disability Engagement Register. The register is a confidential contact list of individuals who have nominated to be available to provide independent advice on issues that are important to people living with a disability in South Australia. People on the register have lived experience of disabilities, as someone living with a disability or as a parent, or a family member, carer or friend.

State and local government departments, statutory authorities, non-government organisations and, in other circumstances, private businesses can initiate contact with  Disability SA to access the Disability Engagement Register for the purpose of consulting and engaging with people with a disability for their business or community engagement areas. During the 2015-16 year, Disability SA undertook a review and update of the Disability Engagement Register. In order to support future growth and developments in this space, they have included in the review a redesign of the information through the register available on the DCSI website and also testing of new online registration to ensure that it is more user-friendly and readily accessible to all people with a disability.

Current promotions about the register are aimed at attracting new members and broadening its reach across the whole of South Australia, including regional areas, and to raise awareness of the register via promotional emails to disability service providers, statutory authorities, local government, peak bodies, consumer groups, advocacy services and information services. We have also engaged in social media, our new information being available on the DCSI website. Distribution will also be sought via external networks, such as the Women's Information Service Facebook page and SACOSS's eBulletin. The register has been used to date by a number of services, including:

the National Disability Insurance Agency, to engage members in a public consultation on the Information, Linkages and Capacity Building Framework;

the Taxi and Chauffeur Vehicle Industry Review;

the commonwealth Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, to invite members to have their say on a whole-of-journey experience of planning, delivery and accessibility of public transport; and

the Adelaide City Council for their Access and Inclusion Plan.

The next stage of this promotion will be to focus on stimulating interest from state and local government departments, statutory authorities and other non-government organisations about how they can consult and engage with people with lived experience with disability or those people with disability. It is anticipated that promotion at this level will also involve a number of other strategies that will involve the Better Together team at the Department of the Premier and Cabinet.

I would encourage all members in this house to help promote this important register. It is important that we engage with people in this state who have a disability and their experience.

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