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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-06-12 Daily Xml
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DISABLED EMPLOYEES, HOSPITAL PARKING

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (14:50): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Industrial Relations questions about workplace entitlements for people with disabilities.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: I have recently met with representatives of the Public Service Association (PSA) who are concerned about what they perceive to be an erosion of the rights of SA Health employees with disabilities. The PSA is concerned about the new provisions relating to paid parking at public hospitals. When inquiring on behalf of PSA members employed at public hospitals, the association developed some additional concerns about an apparent change in SA Health's policy in relation to staff with disabilities.

Under the existing arrangements contained in the SA Health (Health Care Act) Human Resources Manual, a rather generous adjustment is made for staff members with disability, requiring that they be only charged reasonable parking fees and that accessible parking spaces be conveniently located. The PSA indicated that, when it inquired about the car parking entitlements for SA Health staff with disabilities, they were informed that the new car parking rules would supersede the existing arrangements.

SA Health staff with disabilities would be subjected to the new arrangements around paid parking at public hospitals. The new arrangements do not appear to contain the same adjustments as are outlined in paragraph 8-11 of the SA Health (Health Care Act) Human Resources Manual or at the very least do not contain adjustments that are expressed quite as clearly.

The PSA holds serious concerns—concerns that I, indeed, share—that SA Health employees with disabilities may be worse off under the new arrangements. Staff members have previously enjoyed personalised adjustments that greatly improved their ability to access their workplaces, and it would appear that such adjustments are not explicitly preserved under the new paid parking arrangements.

I am aware of one staff member at the Lyell McEwin Hospital who was previously given permission to park in an area ordinarily reserved for IMVS couriers, as the accessible parking spaces were located at a significant distance from where they worked within the hospital. When hospital upgrade works resulted in them being unable to use this parking space anymore, they were effectively forced to pay for parking at the neighbouring Elizabeth Vale Shopping Centre as they were unable to walk the distance from the existing accessible car park in the staff or visitors' car parks.

The employee is concerned that under paid parking arrangements they would have to continue parking at the shopping centre car park as there is no apparent protection of the sorts of adjustments they had previously enjoyed under this new policy. My questions are:

1. What does the minister understand the phrase 'conveniently located' to mean in the context of paragraph 8-11 in the SA Health (Health Care Act) Human Resources Manual?

2. Do the government's new paid parking arrangements at the state's public hospitals offer employees with disability the same entitlement to 'conveniently located' accessible parking spaces?

3. Do the changes to car parking therefore represent a significant change to the entitlement of SA Health employees with disabilities to accessible parking?

4. In particular, will the sorts of adjustments I outlined, which were enjoyed by the staff member at the Lyell McEwin, continue to be available to SA Health staff with disability under the new paid parking arrangements?

5. If the entitlement to accessible parking for SA Health employees with disabilities has changed, what exactly prompted that change?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:54): I thank the member for what is a very important question. There are two issues here. One is the car parking issue and there is also one about the car parking issue in relation to employees with disabilities. On 6 June 2012, the full Supreme Court delivered its decision in relation to an appeal by the PSA in respect to the Department of Health's car parking policy and unanimously rejected the PSA's appeal. It also ordered that the PSA pay the state's costs of the appeal.

The Full Court found that car parking is not a condition of employment—that is, the PSA had not established that car parking is a condition of employment—and the Department for Health and Ageing had not breached the consultation provisions in the enterprise agreement. In effect, subject to any appeal to the High Court of Australia, SA Health can proceed with the implementation of its car parking arrangements. I have not had any discussions at all with the PSA regarding car parking provisions for employees with disabilities. What I will do is refer this to the Minister for Health in another place and find out what arrangements and discussions are ongoing with them regarding employees with disabilities.

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