House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-11-02 Daily Xml

Contents

Disability Ministerial Advisory Committee

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (15:01): My question is to the Minister for Human Services. How is the Malinauskas Labor government giving people with lived experience of disability a greater voice in decisions that affect their lives?

The Hon. N.F. COOK (Hurtle Vale—Minister for Human Services) (15:01): Thank you very much to the member for Adelaide, who is very active in the community ensuring that her community has a voice. I thank her for the question. In the lead-up to the state election, Labor promised to create a number of ministerial advisory councils. This would allow for direct access to myself as the minister to provide input into government policy.

In May this year, I announced plans to establish three ministerial advisory councils for youth, LGBTIQA+ and also for disability. These councils will provide a voice for people with lived experience to discuss and inform government policy. After an open nomination and application process with more than 70 nominations, the members of the new Disability Ministerial Advisory Committee have now been announced.

I want to thank every person who applied. Simply putting your hand up to be involved shows a commitment to making a better community, particularly for people with disability. The 12 members of this committee will be:

Amanda Shiell, a strategic consultant;

Belinda Lambert, a lawyer and advocate for the deaf community;

Belle Owen, project lead at JFA Purple Orange;

Ellen Fraser-Barbour, research and policy lead at JFA Purple Orange;

Jarad McLoughlin, an advisory group member of People with Disability Australia;

Katherine Annear, a fierce advocate and consultant—particularly in the autistic community;

Kwan Leung Chia, a rural doctor experienced in disability health both in Australia and overseas;

Kym Langton, a member of the SA Council on Intellectual Disability reference group;

Michael Taggart, the inclusion project officer at the City of Salisbury;

Sisaleo Philavong, a member of both the LGA Disability Advisory Group and the DHS Disability Engagement Group; and

Sylvia Maso, a parent and carer.

This group will bring depth and diversity to disability policy discussions, and I look forward to attending the first meeting with them later this year. The 12 people come with amazingly diverse backgrounds and bring a massive array of experiences, including allied health, the Crown Solicitor's Office, peak bodies, research, legislation, media, national leadership, as well as lived experience and being parents and carers. Our state will be well served by these people and our policy agenda will forever be better.

While there are a number of existing committees relating to disability, most are for peak bodies, employers or service providers. As the Minister for Human Services, I wanted to ensure that everyday South Australians were given a voice.

I formally announced our plans for the Disability Advisory Council when we launched our Pavely app on 24 May. For those who haven't used that yet, Pavely is a social planning app which makes it quick and easy for people with accessibility needs, or those closest to them, to find new places to visit, to go to, things to see and do. I encourage every member in this place to download the Pavely app and have a look at the places in their community and the accessibility benefits or, indeed, the issues that people face. The advisory council and Pavely are just two initiatives that are seeking to build a much better community for people with disability.

The SPEAKER: The question before the Chair is that the house notes—

Mr PEDERICK: Excuse me, sir, the timer hadn't gone when I rose to my feet.

The SPEAKER: Well, it certainly has now, member for Hammond. You are on two warnings. There were a number of gestures in question time that were concerning to me and I have now turned to grievances. You will be seated.