Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-08-24 Daily Xml

Contents

Whitmore Square Soup Kitchen

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (15:37): My question is to the Minister for Human Services regarding homelessness. Exactly what authority does the Chief Executive of the Department of Human Services have to enforce Adelaide City Council by-laws or policies, and what formal request was made to the Chief Executive of the Department of Human Services by the city council to take action on their behalf regarding a street kitchen on Whitmore Square?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:38): I think the facts of this case have been outlined in the public domain, both through media reports and through my recounting of the chief executive's response to this in that she had mentioned to the group that were informally providing services in Whitmore Square that they were required to have a permit. Her recollection is that they said that they were aware that they needed to have a permit. Those rules are something that are a matter for the Adelaide City Council. Unbeknownst to her at the time, the Adelaide City Council had already approached the organisation to advise them.