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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-11-10 Daily Xml
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Coronavirus

The Hon. J.S. LEE (14:43): My question is to the Minister for Human Services regarding COVID-19 support measures. Can the minister please provide an update to the council on how the Marshall Liberal government is continuing to support vulnerable people in the community during the coronavirus pandemic?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:44): I thank the honourable member for her question and, indeed, her advocacy on this particular matter. She has raised issues in this place with me previously, which we have thankfully been able to provide assistance to our community on.

I suppose it states the obvious, but the COVID situation has challenged us all in many, many ways. We are ever grateful to our benevolent Treasurer, who is becoming the greatest spending Treasurer in the history of South Australia at this difficult time, which—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The minister has the call.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —the Treasurer reliably informs us has been on the advice of the Reserve Bank, from my understanding, and is consistent with all jurisdictions in Australia.

We too, within the human services portfolio, have of course had areas where we have needed to provide particular assistance. There has been some specific assistance particularly through the community services division, which is an area that I know the Hon. Jing Lee pays close attention to in terms of some of our essential programs.

We have been able to provide some $1.6 million in additional funding to the food and emergency relief sector for increased demand, which included:

$500,000 for food relief for organisations including Foodbank, Oz Harvest, SecondBite and Meals on Wheels;

$800,000 in emergency relief, including supermarket and pharmacy vouchers;

$185,000 for the Affordable SA Helpline and National Debt Helpline (SA Branch), which is run by the Salvation Army; and

$144,000 to a statewide financial counselling program to existing service providers.

Some of those service providers have been assisting people who are particularly close to the member's heart in the multicultural community, who have been unexpectedly in need of assistance due to being on particular visa classes and unable to access support from the commonwealth government.

In addition, we had specific support by Grants SA, the COVID-19 Support Grants, which I may have talked about previously in this place. We also provided $100,000 to support community centres across South Australia, as well as a range of grants to the community and neighbourhood development program, and to three agencies to specifically support migrant communities affected by COVID-19, including $200,000 to the Australian Refugee Association, $100,000 to the Migrant Resource Centre and $50,000 to the Welcoming Centre.

There is a range of grants being provided through the Department of Human Services concessions area, and that also includes the International Student Support Package, for which my colleague the Hon. David Ridgway, as minister, has been and continues to be a very strong advocate. That has assisted international students impacted by coronavirus restrictions. I understand that approximately 15,500 students registered their interest with StudyAdelaide, and we have paid out 3,861 grants by the concessions area as at 30 October.

I won't run through the rest of the grants, but we are monitoring all these areas and various cohorts very closely to ensure that we are being responsive to needs as they arise.

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