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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-04-08 Daily Xml
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World Social Work Day

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (12:17): I move:

That this house—

(a) recognises World Social Work Day is celebrated on 17 March 2020;

(b) acknowledges those workers who work within state government, in particular the Department for Child Protection, other government departments, non-government and charitable organisations, who are skilled, knowledgeable and specialise in issues related to social and emotional wellbeing; and

(c) expresses appreciation for the work of social workers who are passionate advocates for the individuals, families and communities with whom they work.

I take the chance also to note that I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to participate, together with Minister for Child Protection, who is here in the chamber with me, and members of this house and members of another place, on the joint committee inquiry in relation to social workers and the registration of social workers. I will have just a little more to say about that in a moment.

World Social Work Day was celebrated on 17 March this year, just a matter of weeks ago. It is a day that is an initiative of the International Federation of Social Workers. That is the global body for the profession of social workers and it is a body that, in the course of the joint committee's inquiry work, I have become somewhat more familiar with than I was previously. It is a body that reflects social workers in jurisdictions around the world and indeed documents the important work that social workers do in a wide variety of different countries.

This is a key day in the year, and social workers worldwide, I understand, unite in recognising the day and the opportunity that the day presents to advance a common global message for social workers internationally. In my view, this year's theme for World Social Work Day could not be more appropriate in the circumstances of the public health emergency that we are presently living through day to day.

The theme this year highlights promoting the importance of human relationships, and by doing so that is really bringing to the fore the very important theme in responding to this challenge that we focus on day to day here and in our communities, and that is the promotion and galvanising of community wellbeing. Focusing on a theme that promotes the importance of human relationships is always important and always at the core of what social workers are looking to do in their everyday work and in the course of their profession, but I might add that it is a theme we might all adopt and reflect on all the more so at this time.

As the motion reflects, the vital work of social workers is clearly on display in the work that goes on throughout our state government departments. The public provision of social work supports is very much at the core of the state government's service provision here and throughout the country and internationally. In South Australia, that is particularly so in the important work that the Department for Child Protection undertakes within the responsibility of the Minister for Child Protection. I take this chance to recognise and thank the minister for her capable, innovative and steadfast leadership of her department and the tremendous work she has been doing with those particular, and at times, if I may say, particularly existentially challenging, aspects of work within the department.

It of course is working with vulnerable families, as we see with social workers across the board. We see important social work being done through non-government organisations as well, by foster carers and the community more broadly, who are importantly, while not exclusively, involved in the care and protection of vulnerable children.

Again, if there might be some more particular reflection at this time, it is that we all, as families and throughout our communities, are finding ourselves in challenged social circumstances, and as we look, as family units, to self-isolate and to constructively engage meanwhile with the usual institutions such as school, in particular, so far as children are concerned, there is an important role at this time for social workers to help steer a course through these challenging times. Of course, it extends beyond the acute circumstances that we see now to the chronic and sustained matters that are the subject of the work of the Department for Child Protection: the addressing of abuse and neglect and endeavouring to keep children, in particular, safe from further harm.

We take the opportunity to express appreciation for the work of social workers. They are often the most effective and certainly passionate advocates for the individuals and the families and the communities for whom they work, and we recognise them as such. The Australian Association of Social Workers is a key professional body that represents a large majority of social workers in this country—as I understand, more than 11,000 social workers—and is taking a lead role in the marking of the day and then in promoting the theme for this year. I recognise the important work of the association.

There is also more that we can do to recognise the importance of the day. In order to support the important work of the association and of social workers generally, it is important that we call out and advocate against discriminatory and abusive behaviours, and also structures that would otherwise permit those to continue, and that we do all that we can to prevent the oppression of vulnerable groups in our society.

It is in this context and the context of the promotion of wellbeing and support for the vulnerable, as I had the opportunity to mention yesterday, that I again raise and commend to the community the new support line that is available for members of the community in particular to raise concerns that they may have or needs for support: the SA COVID-19 Mental Health Support Line, which was established by the state government.

The support line is a practical component of service and support provided by the government. I hope it demonstrates in part the government's commitment to the promotion of wellbeing alongside the practical day-to-day work of our social workers. I note again that the support line is available and staffed from 8am to 8pm and the telephone number is 1800 632 753. More information is available at SA Health's website, www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/covid-19. With those remarks, I commend the motion to the house.

Ms STINSON (Badcoe) (12:30): I would firstly like to thank the member for Heysen for moving this motion. It is very important that we recognise the work of social workers, probably even more so at this time that we find ourselves in. I thank him for his excellent motion and those of us on this side support it.

The world would indeed be a very dark place without social workers. They are at the very core of delivering for our social justice system. They are the people on the front line who are building relationships and trying to rebuild relationships within our community, and they are really the ones doing the grunt work and the difficult things in our community. It is an incredibly difficult job. Anyone who is a social worker, who knows a social worker, or even who has just had conversations with social workers about the work they do, will know that this is a complex profession, an ever-changing profession and, of course, an absolutely vital profession for the social cohesion of our state and for all of us living in this state.

Obviously, we have a large number of social workers who are working in the Department for Child Protection, which I take a particular interest in, and also in the Department of Human Services, and we thank them for the amazing and detailed work they do every single day. There are also social workers working throughout pretty much every other social justice type of department across the government and, indeed, the non-government and private sectors as well.

Areas such as health and education also have people with social work backgrounds or in social work roles who are delivering for vulnerable people or people we want to make sure do not become vulnerable, supporting them, supporting the relationships they have in the community and making sure they are getting access to the services they need. Of course, social workers are also the ones who are devising many of the programs and policies advising government about the types of services we need to be rolling out that are then delivered on the ground by many social workers and others.

There are a large number of social workers in the government departments, but I would also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to those who are working for our non-government organisations. Some of them are very well known to people in our community—organisations such as Anglicare and UnitingSA—but also there are smaller NGOs that are employing social workers and doing some great stuff. There are also a small number of for-profit organisations that are employing social workers and people with social work backgrounds, and they are delivering some pretty amazing results in the community as well.

When we look at this issue, I reflect on the area of child protection and think of all the families and all the children whose lives have been absolutely changed by the work of social workers. We hear about a lot of difficulties that happen in the human services and child protection portfolios, but when you speak to people many have had excellent outcomes and really had their lives turned around by the relationship they have had with a social worker who has taken a special interest in the circumstances that a child or a family has found themselves in and really committed themselves to understanding the difficulties that person faces, using their professional skills and professional judgement to work out what those families and children need in order to have the same opportunities that we hope all South Australians have.

That relationship and the dedication of those social workers to their craft and to the people they work with cannot be underestimated. Of course, we all reflect on our teachers from when we were at school and the impact that a teacher can have on our lives: on our love of learning, our engagement with others and our sense of security and having a strong future. Really, social workers are doing a very similar job to that. They are looking at the issues that young people and families in the area of child protection are facing. They are thinking quite critically and using their professional skills and judgement to come up with the best support that they possibly can.

Of course, there are no simple solutions to a lot of the problems they are dealing with. There is not a pill you can take and there is not a sudden quick fix that can be applied. This really is a matter where so much comes down to the relationship and the dedication that a social worker has with the people they are working with and for. We recognise that and we greatly appreciate the life-changing differences they are making every day in our state.

At this time, when we are dealing with the coronavirus across South Australia, across Australia and across the world, the work of front-line workers, including social workers, comes into sharp focus for us. Many of those workers have had to change the way that they are working amid COVID-19 and they are having to adapt to new ways of being able to deliver care for people in our community—but they are still there, they are still available to our community and they are doing some absolutely excellent work at this time.

Obviously, at this time many people are dealing with issues such as social isolation, loneliness, anxiety and, of course, the impact of being separated from families, friends and people who are our support networks. I think that is true of almost everyone in the community. For others, existing difficulties that they have been experiencing in their lives are exacerbated—things like domestic violence, difficult family relationships, mental health concerns and also issues of access and custody when it comes to being able to speak with and meet with children who people may have a very strong relationship with, either as parents or relatives or carers.

All these things have now really been heightened. For people who are experiencing these issues every day anyway, the coronavirus has increased the difficulty for many of them. Social workers are the ones who are charged with and delivering on those issues, as much as possible in these difficult times, so that they can be addressed and worked through, that new solutions can be found, that people are supported in their communities and that people can continue to have those vital relationships in their lives, or even work on those relationships that are strained, to try to make sure that we can continue with that good work in this very difficult time.

Social workers are actively tackling the existing issues as well as the emerging issues that are coming to the fore due to the COVID-19 crisis. I really think that the role of social workers will not only be on display during this crisis period, and indeed will increase during this pandemic, but also will be absolutely vital in the recovery. When we come out of this, whenever that might be, there is going to be a need for people to be supported, to re-establish their own support systems and the support systems that are put in place through governments, through NGOs and through others. Social workers, the work they do and the dedication they have will be critical in that recovery phase for not only South Australia but indeed all jurisdictions.

On this side, on the other side and on the crossbench, we all deeply appreciate the dedication of social workers. In this time, I think we can all certainly be unified about offering our thanks to people who are really going above and beyond every day, but especially at the moment.

I would also like to thank the Australian Association of Social Workers. It has been wonderful for me in my role as the shadow minister for child protection to get to know the leadership there and to speak with the many, many members of that organisation. They do some fantastic work not only in terms of highlighting the role of social workers and the achievements of those people as well—especially through their awards program—but also putting on the table the difficulties that social workers face and how policy makers can make life easier for social workers, and to reflect the things that social workers are seeing that need to be considered and incorporated when we are delivering social policy.

I was sad to see that their event was recently cancelled, and I hope that that might be reinstated. Thank you to all the social workers, and I would encourage everyone in our community to recognise the front-line social workers and their immense contribution to South Australia. We wish them well at this very testing time.

The Hon. R. SANDERSON (Adelaide—Minister for Child Protection) (12:40): I, too, thank the member for Heysen for bringing this important motion to the house. World Social Work Day was celebrated on 17 March this year. The day gives us all an opportunity to recognise the hard work and dedication of social workers. An initiative of the International Federation of Social Workers, this year's message promoting the importance of human relationships could not be any more apt in what has transpired across the globe this year and what continues to impact each of our daily activities.

Social workers are one of the largest professional working groups in Australia. In South Australia over 2,000 social workers are employed by government agencies. Social workers are employed within my department (the Department of Child Protection), the healthcare system, schools and justice, just to name a few. As part of their role, social workers respond to crisis situations, advocate for clients and work toward improved outcomes.

Last year my department was privileged to host Emeritus Professor Eileen Munro in South Australia. Professor Munro, a professor in social policy with a social work background, was engaged by prime minister David Cameron to lead the 2011 review of the United Kingdom child protection system. While here, staff from my department, as well as from the general public, through her booked out public lectures were able to learn from her knowledge and insights.

One of Professor Munro's key points is a need for social workers to feel trusted and supported—to make decisions in the context of great complexity and uncertainty. Professor Munro rightly suggests that, in circumstances which most social workers are engaged, mistakes can sometimes be made, but when they are it is the role of their employer to create a learning culture not a culture of blame. My department is working hard to turn these learnings into practice.

The Practise Approach, developed specifically for the South Australian context, aims to ensure that social workers feel trusted to make decisions, to practise intuitively and to know they will be supported when a defendable decision is made.

Today, our world looks different from the way it did last year. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly altered life for each and every one of us. The spread of COVID-19 and the efforts to flatten the curve have meant that each of us is presented with new challenges. Living in this beautiful state our way of normal life was represented by the freedom we enjoyed and the safety of our environment. These basic pleasures, which we all took for granted, helped us to thrive in our community and for our interpersonal relationships to flourish.

For the time being, we are all impacted as we follow the guidance of the government and expert advice to keep ourselves and others safe, and while the majority of the population adhere to the messages and are staying at home there is a workforce of social workers who have a very important role to play as they ensure they maintain some semblance of contact with those who are most vulnerable in the community and potentially more so in these uncertain times.

Now more than ever before, the important input of our social workers is being called upon. In the last two years since forming government there has been a reduction in job vacancies in my department of approximately 8.6 per cent. During that time, more than 211 social workers have been recruited, meaning that, as a result of the Liberal government's focus to drive efforts to staff my department, we find ourselves with the best workforce capacity we have had in a long time to face the challenges of both our normal business and the daily challenges that COVID-19 presents.

Within child protection, our social workers are still engaged on the front line, delivering certainty and services to children and young people in care. During these times, our social workers are still attending their places of work and reaching out to their clients. In these uncertain times, they are creating stability and maintaining relationships and remain committed to delivery of service and keeping our children and young people safe.

It is important to recognise that now more than ever our social workers are finding themselves in a unique position to promote disease prevention efforts by the dissemination of clear government messaging from trusted sources and to assist with anxiety and other concerns that are arising as a result of this public health crisis. They are also assessing notifications, conducting investigations and intervening when necessary to keep children safe. This work cannot and will not pause during COVID-19, and I am very proud of my department's response and thorough planning to ensure that our business of keeping children and young people safe continues.

While the opportunity for me to meet many social workers and share breakfast with them on 17 March in recognition of their very important day was sadly unable to go ahead, I am grateful for this opportunity to express in this place my appreciation and gratitude for all our social workers for the work they do and the impact they have on the lives of the people they work with. I commend this motion to the house.

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (12:46): I thank those who have spoken up in favour of the motion. I thank the Minister for Child Protection for her remarks in support of the motion and for outlining some of the further initiatives that are being taken by her department. I recognise and thank the member for Badcoe for her contribution on behalf of the opposition and for the opposition's support of the motion. I commend the motion to the house.

Motion carried.

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