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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-10-16 Daily Xml
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CATHERINE HOUSE

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (15:10): Will the Minister for the Status of Women update us on Catherine House and the work of its Women's Information Service?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister Assisting the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Energy) (15:10): I thank the member for his interest in these matters. On Wednesday 8 October Catherine House hosted a breakfast at the Adelaide Convention Centre to celebrate its 20th birthday. The event MC was Amanda Blair, who kept us all entertained (even though it was very early in the morning). The keynote speaker was Therese Rein (Australian Patron of Common Ground, trained psychologist, businesswoman and, of course, partner of our Prime Minister, the Hon. Kevin Rudd), who gave, I have to say, an inspirational address; it was quite moving. The event launched the first Catherine House book of poetry, creative writing and art produced by its creative writing and art group, as well as the Catherine House rose.

The event was inspirational and it was a great honour to be there, and I particularly express my admiration for the creative writing and art group, whose membership comprises former users of the Catherine House services, and whose work is really quite beautiful. It was also wonderful to see and hear the poetry and singing performances of this group. As I said, they are all former users of the services of Catherine House. When you consider the incredible trials that these women have been through, it is truly amazing how far they have come and the courage that it has taken for them to reach a point where they are publishing their own work, their own thoughts and creativity, or performing, as they did, live on stage. I place on record my sincere congratulations and admiration for these women who did an outstanding job; their performance was, indeed, most impressive.

Catherine House was established in 1988 by the Sisters of Mercy, who apparently were told at around that time that, in fact, there were no women who were homeless. In response to that report, they simply went out, found a place, and provided a service for homeless women.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: You have to be careful which government you are talking about. It is the only provider of its kind in South Australia offering supported accommodation for women over 21 years of age, and who are homeless. Catherine House has 16 houses (one emergency house and 15 transitional houses) in the inner city of Adelaide, accommodating up to 48 clients a night. The emergency supported accommodation program can house and work with up to 16 clients, who can stay up to one month in the program. Clients usually stay in the transitional supported accommodation for around six to 12 months.

Women are referred to the emergency accommodation program from places such as welfare agencies, hospitals, prisons, Crisis Care and police. Clients who use the program present with a range of often very complex and overlapping issues, including mental health, drug and alcohol problems, gambling, domestic violence, and relationship and family breakdown. Perhaps, unfortunately, the saddest fact of all, which is common to many (or all) of these women and which unites them, is that the women who tend to come to these organisations are, in fact, victims of childhood sexual abuse themselves.

I am pleased to share with members that the Women's Information Service has regular contact with the women at Catherine House. The focus of their involvement is to support women to become more familiar with things such as information technology. Weekly computer classes are held at the centre where WIS staff provide personalised training.

Since these sessions commenced, women have been assisted to create email accounts, use online services and generally build their confidence using computers. These are very important activities that, in effect, help to empower women who often face considerable disadvantage. Many of us take these things for granted, but for someone who has never used a computer before, the benefits of this newly acquired knowledge are often quite substantial.

I take this opportunity to commend Catherine House for the excellent and very important work that it has done over the past 20 years and that it continues to do. I look forward to the continuing relationship between the Women's Information Service and Catherine House.

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