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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-09-12 Daily Xml
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Operation Paragon

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (15:04): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before directing questions to the Attorney-General and Leader of the Government in this place about Operation Paragon.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: In a radio interview, the Chief Executive of the Hutt St Centre, Mr Chris Burns, raised concerns about Operation Paragon and it being—and I am paraphrasing him—a band-aid fix by moving the problem elsewhere and not a long-term solution. My questions are:

1. Given the recent enforcement actions taken in the CBD, particularly in front of Parliament House on North Terrace, can the minister clarify how the government distinguishes between individuals causing 'behavioural issues' and those who are experiencing homelessness?

2. While the site in the western Parklands has services and facilities, what additional support mechanisms is the government considering to ensure that individuals who move to this location have comprehensive supports?

3. Given the critical nature of the services provided by non-government organisations, such as meals, showers and the like, is the government considering additional support for those organisations as demand rises?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:05): I thank the honourable member for her question. In relation to the first question, the honourable member asked about distinguishing—I can't remember the exact words—it is not the government who enforces what is declared a public precinct, it is SAPOL. So it is not the government making decisions in relation to a declared public precinct, it is SAPOL who do that. In relation to the honourable member's questions about the multiagency response, I am happy to go over—and I have mentioned it briefly once—some of the areas we are looking at. That doesn't mean that the government, in relation to I think the third question, is closed to further and more responses, but these are the responses that have been put in place to date.

For example, the honourable member mentioned the place in the Parklands that is 'a safer place to gather', which was established in Edwards Park by the Department of Human Services, and police officers who can make these decisions can refer people from the declared public precinct to this site—that will be a discretion for SAPOL—where they can then access health services, drug and alcohol support, housing and Centrelink assistance. Drug and Alcohol Services SA (DASSA) has begun providing outreach services to the safer place gathering site, starting mid-August.

In addition, there is a short-term dedicated pod comprising 10 beds within the inpatient withdrawal services at Glenside that has been established by DASSA to offer culturally appropriate alcohol and other drug treatments. I think I reported before to the chamber that in the period between 7 August and 16 August I was informed that a safer place to gather site was used by approximately 30 people within the declared public precinct itself.

DHS obviously continues to coordinate an assertive outreach service response from 7am seven days a week, involving the employment of cultural workers to ensure effective engagement and maximising the response for the mobile system patrol, which provides transport for individuals affected by alcohol and other drugs and are at risk of harm to themselves and others from inner city Adelaide to places of safety. As I say, this doesn't mean that this is all the government will ever consider doing in this area, but this is what the government has done to date and of course it will consider what further services need to be provided to support people.

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