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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-29 Daily Xml
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DISCRIMINATION

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:34): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for the Status of Women a question about discrimination.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: On 7 April 2009, this council passed the equal opportunities bill. Under the act and the bill, discrimination occurs when a person treats another person unfavourably on particular grounds, such as a disability.

Yet, within the month, on 26 April 2009 the Sunday Mail revealed that students with disabilities at the Mount Barker South Primary School are being dressed in fluoro vests and spending their breaks in a separate, fenced playground dubbed 'the cage'. Parents and disability advocates have expressed the concern that the practice of segregating children with disabilities promotes a mindset of segregation which undermines the principles of inclusion and community engagement.

I quote particularly from a comment by the mother of a child with a disability which was recorded on the Adelaidenow website:

South Australia has a policy of inclusion for children with disabilities, including autism. This policy implies that children with special needs will be included into mainstream school settings, with their needs catered for by the Education Department. This is not happening. Teachers are being left to teach children with many disabilities without...training, and schools are not being provided with adequate funding to support these students, either in the form of support workers or infrastructure like adequate fencing. This means that 'inclusion' is just not possible, and exclusion, both social and physical, is the most common outcome for our kids.

My questions are:

1. How can the government claim to be focused on inclusion and removing discrimination when it is marking and segregating children with disabilities within the government's own schools?

2. What steps will the government take to ensure that schools and other government agencies appropriately and consistently apply principles of non-discrimination?

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) (14:36): I thank the honourable member for this most important question. The issue of disabilities or discrimination on the grounds of disability is again outside my ministerial responsibilities. It does go between both the education minister and also the Minister for Disability, Jennifer Rankine, but I understand that minister Jane Lomax-Smith has been taking the lead in relation to this issue at that particular primary school. I have been advised that she has put out a media release with respect to that, so I can direct the member to that. I am happy to pass on the question to the relevant minister in another place and bring back a response.

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