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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-06-17 Daily Xml
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Disability Services

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:55): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Human Services regarding disability services.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Minister, for weeks now when you have been asked in this chamber and in the media about your knowledge of other critical incidents, you have said you don't know, you will take it on notice. Today, minister, you said that you hadn't had such an incident report since 2018. When presented with facts about an incident, the story that you had given this chamber and given the South Australian public dramatically changed; you suddenly remembered details of an incident that was reported to you.

Minister, what would you say to the family of Debra Pearce? Minister, what would you say to any family members whose loved ones are in state-run disability care? Minister, how can they have any confidence whatsoever in your capacity to do the job?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:56): I thank the honourable member for his question. He may not be aware, but there are a lot of incidents that do come to my attention. It's a portfolio that has a lot of challenges to it in relation to a range of circumstances that people find themselves in, and in that context there are matters to do with domestic and family violence, the Youth Training Centre, and we have 34,000 public housing properties that we manage. In that context, there are a lot of incidents that take place that do occur. In the context of not remembering specific things at the time—that I didn't remember it at the start of question time—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —I can assure honourable members—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —that I receive the email in a very short space of time. I open it, I read it, I make sure that all of the matters that are in the pro forma have been followed up and I am subsequently provided with follow-up briefs, which I read and ensure that all of the procedures that should have taken place have been taking place.

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