Disability Services
08/11/2011
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (15:25): I seek leave to make an explanation before asking the Minister for Disabilities a question regarding the nomenclature of government departments and services.
Leave granted.
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: Since I became a member of this chamber some 18 months ago, changes have been afoot within the Department for Families and Communities (DFC) in relation to disability services. I understand that it is now to be called the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion.
While I love being able to advocate on behalf of my constituents to the relevant ministers on a range of issues, from housing to justice to equipment and education, I have noticed the confusion shared by many of them in regard to where they should be accessing services and what exactly each service is called. In fact, when my office calls various agencies to inquire about disability services on behalf of our constituents, even the workers there seem a bit unsure as to who they work for and under which arm of the government they currently sit.
In 2010, the then minister for disabilities changed the name of Disability SA to Disability Services and renamed other related services within the department. What is of particular concern to me is the cost that these continual name changes within government bring—firstly, the expense of constantly changing the stationery, business cards, letterheads and the website for example. What exactly is the benefit? Having said that, I am unsure as to how many alterations may have been made to the websites and web pages as it is highly confusing to navigate my searches, and I assure you that my constituency finds it just as challenging.
Given that the minister is new to this role, I am interested as to how he has gone about establishing who is called what and who indeed does what within Disability Services, over which he now presides. My questions are:
1. When exactly did Disability SA become Disability Services or Community Home Support and which exactly of these things is it called?
2. What has been the cost to rebadge all of the stationery and signage within the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion?
3. What processes have been undertaken to inform disability workers, consumers and the disability sector at large of the name changes and any resulting service changes and movement throughout the remaining agencies within this department?
The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, Minister for Social Housing, Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers) (15:28): I thank the honourable member for her very important questions. In terms of name changes for agencies, in particular, Disability Services from Disability SA, I can say only that changing the name of agencies is something that happens regularly when governments reshape portfolios. It has happened from time immemorial, and I would imagine will happen again in the future.
However, I do feel for the honourable member and her constituents and, indeed, clients of Disabilities SA and the agency if there is any confusion created in their mind about these name changes and the changes to portfolios. What I can say is that a great deal of the services provided to constituents of the agency are provided by NGOs, and NGOs have not had any name change whatsoever. Most clients will see services from the NGOs they go to in the same way they have done in the past. I also say to the honourable member that she might like to advise people who come to her to look up, if possible, the South Australian government website www.sa.gov.au, which will have a complete list of all of the agencies under each portfolio heading.
Finally, I would also say to the honourable member that my understanding is that these days stationery internal to the agencies is usually electronic and can be easily and quickly changed on a computer and printed out as needed. It is not something that I do as routine, but now I have people who do that for me.
