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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-07-04 Daily Xml
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Disability Services

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:42): Supplementary arising from the answer: minister, can you guarantee that workers in this area won't be worse off under your privatisation?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:42): Again, I think the honourable member makes a number of incorrect premises, which I will choose to ignore. I am not quite sure what the definition of 'worse off' is. If the Leader of the Opposition is talking about pay and conditions, then I can't see that that is the case. If people choose to work in some other space and they are therefore unhappy, then that's their decision. I am not quite sure how I have any control over that.

There is, I think, a bit of a misunderstanding in relation to the non-government sector. I have seen some remarks in the press recently that the non-government sector doesn't offer the same sorts of arrangements. That is not my understanding. I understand that their conditions are just as good as anywhere else. There are a number of specialist providers that have emerged both within disabilities and within the ageing sector over the years.

The government services emerged because, in the days when people weren't able to get a service from a non-government provider, the government was there to provide that service. That landscape has changed. It has changed because of a range of aged-care reforms. It is also changing because of the NDIS. We are in a very different landscape today than we would have been 20 or 30 years ago. There are a lot of non-government providers who provide services to people with quite complex needs and they do a really good job. I think they would probably be quite offended if anyone suggested that their service was inferior to a state government service.

The Hon. T.A. Franks: Supplementary.

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