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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-10-14 Daily Xml
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Homelessness Sector Reform

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (14:25): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Human Services regarding homelessness sector reform.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: The first of the South Australian Housing Authority Homelessness Alliance briefings occurred yesterday. This is a lead-up to the tender process that begins in coming months for more than $60 million per year in funding for homelessness services. During and after yesterday's meeting, multiple sector representatives expressed their concerns to the opposition about this reform. Further, following the briefing, one experienced leader said:

Absolutely hopeless and insulting the great work of really dedicated people. The language they keep using dishonours the sector and to add insult to injury, they don't even recognise what the problem is with their language.

My questions to the minister are:

1. What does the minister have to say to the organisations that deliver frontline services who are so concerned and feel this way?

2. Given the anger in the sector about this reform package, will the minister reverse or change her decision?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:26): I thank the honourable member for her question. Of course, this is a government that is not afraid to shy away from reforms, unlike the previous government which just kept rolling contracts over year after year after year. There has been no reform in the homelessness services sector for some 10 years or more.

I have outlined previously about what the pathway is that we are seeking to go down with our partners in the non-government sector in terms of homelessness. We have previously described the system as being broken because there is a range of services, they are often disconnected, and they are difficult to navigate for people with lived experience. I have heard some of the stories personally; they are published in various documents.

What we need to focus on is what it is that we are hoping to achieve, which I have talked about in this place before. The next stage of reform is that we are seeking for the providers to form alliance partnerships. That has been, we believe, a successful model which has been utilised in the United Kingdom, which means that there is much greater connectivity between services and enables the service system to focus on what we really want to achieve with homelessness: which is exit pathways out of homelessness, a housing-first approach, prevention measures and ensuring that the complete focus and design is focused on the people with lived experience.

I appreciate that the process of change is difficult for organisations and that is why the Housing Authority decided to run not just this workshop but a series of workshops, so there will be another on 27 October and one on 3 November. They will go into the next phases in terms of homelessness reform. I think it is hardly surprising that there would be some concerns expressed about what the approach looks like going forward because I think that is standard in any change management process. If you want to refer to the management—

The Hon. C.M. Scriven: So you don't care then, it's just they don't like change; is that it?

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: The terms that are often referred to in management-speak are the analogy of storming, norming, forming and performing. We are probably in this first stage where lots of people need to work out what this looks like going forward. So the Housing Authority is working with the sector, because it is a significant change and I will be the first person to acknowledge that. But in terms of our sector reference group and a range of providers, they have also expressed to me that they believe that the alliance model is an effective way going forward. So we want to take everybody along the journey with us, and that is why the Housing Authority has scheduled additional roundtable briefings for providers.

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