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

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (14:27): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Human Services regarding crisis accommodation.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: The ABC reported yesterday that 67 crisis accommodation beds for homeless people in the Adelaide CBD are facing closure on 1 July, in the middle of winter, as a result of the minister's new homelessness service system. The ABC report said:

St Vincent De Paul Society SA chief executive officer Louise Frost said a redirection of government funding to different providers meant it would have to close its city crisis accommodation beds for men by July 1. 'So that's 47 men every night who come to us because they're experiencing homelessness.'

Catherine House provides shelter for women facing complex mental health and trauma, and the ABC reported yesterday:

General manager Julie Duncan said the service's loss of $1.2 million in government funding would negatively impact its crisis and emergency accommodation program, which offered 20 beds, 24 hours a day, along with case management services and outreach support.

My questions to the minister are: how does the minister justify what will be the closure of 67 homeless crisis beds in the CBD, including the only crisis beds for women, right in the middle of winter?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:28): I thank the honourable member for her question. If I could first respond to the last question in the suite of questions she asked: there are other crisis accommodation beds throughout the state that are available, so the—

The Hon. C.M. Scriven: CBD was the question.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —assertion that they are the only ones available—

The Hon. C.M. Scriven: None in the CBD.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —is not correct.

The PRESIDENT: The honourable deputy leader asked the question; she might like to listen to the answer.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: In terms of the reforms going forward, clearly we had five alliances, which—

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: In the middle of winter.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: There were five alliances which—

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hunter, order!

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: You are closing beds in the middle of winter.

The PRESIDENT: Order! The minister has the call.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Thank you, Mr President. There are five alliances that we were seeking; four of those were uncontested. The Adelaide South region was the only one that was contested. The new alliance leadership has reached out to all of the services to see how they could fit into the scheme going forward. As part of the tender process, all existing services that are being offered currently were required to demonstrate how they were able to continue to be provided through the new alliance model, and the successful tenderer was able to demonstrate that.

What we do know about some of the city-based services is that people do come into the city because that's where that particular service is. We also believe that people should be receiving services closer to where they come from so that they can remain connected to those existing supports in their community if that's what they choose. My message, clearly, to any of the services that weren't part of that successful bid is to engage with the alliance that won the tender to see how those services could fit going forward, and I understand that those discussions have been taking place already.

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