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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-05 Daily Xml
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Homelessness Alliances

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (14:33): My question is to the Minister for Human Services regarding human services. After taking more than three years to announce homelessness reforms, why has the sector been given just seven weeks to establish services, hire staff and, most importantly, prevent vulnerable homeless people falling through the cracks as their existing supports stop operating?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:34): I thank the honourable member for identifying the fact that it has taken us some time to reach these reforms. The reason for that is because we wanted to get it right. We have done a huge amount of consultation. Can I also just point out that this wasn't some bright idea that I thought up in the middle of the night or anyone in the department did. This was something the sector came to us with. They said to us that this is working really well in other jurisdictions, and it is a really important way to look at the way we fund and operate services.

The Hon. C.M. Scriven: So seven weeks is enough, is it? Enough to get ready?

The PRESIDENT: The deputy leader is out of order.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: So there's been no secrets about this process. It's been open and transparent. We provided additional time for the tenderers to put their particular bids in, and as part of that we said to them that they needed to have a transition plan, and that was tested through the panel process. So the transition plan is the part which guides how clients will be transitioned to new providers, if that is the case. I might say that in four of the alliances that is going to be a very minimal, if any, process. It's just the one alliance where we had two tenders, so the successful tenderer was required to have a transition plan, which is in place and which they are working towards.

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