Thursday, 4 May 2023

Bills

Disability and Social Services Regulation Amendment Bill 2023

Second reading

Debate resumed on motion of Ros Spence:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Josh BULL (Sunbury) (10:07): I am very pleased this morning to have the opportunity to contribute to debate on the Disability and Social Services Regulation Amendment Bill 2023. This government, the Andrews Labor government, is of course committed to fairness – to supporting those who are most vulnerable within our community and placing their needs first. This is a bill that is about supporting those who face many varied and complex challenges within their lives, and there are a range of provisions within this piece of legislation that go to addressing some of those. We know that this government, the Andrews Labor government, has a strong record of supporting those in our community with a disability, but of course we know and understand that there is more work to be done.

The Disability and Social Services Regulation Amendment Bill 2023, as I mentioned, is about protecting those that are most vulnerable within our community and strengthening their rights. It is central to the work that happens right across government, across all portfolio areas, whether that be within the disability space, education, health or transport – making sure that we are giving the people of Victoria the chance to be their best selves and making sure that we are removing barriers to people’s lives within their community.

The bill amends the Disability Act 2006, the Residential Tenancies Act 1997, the Disability Service Safeguards Act 2018 and the Social Services Regulation Act 2021 to bring about critical amendments that will increase rights and protections, improve services and bring about better service coordination and to clarify functions and responsibilities to reduce duplication. The amendments to the acts will ensure that the legislative frameworks deliver the most appropriate and contemporary services and protections for people living with a disability and also for those who are experiencing some of the most challenging times within their lives.

We know that those that work within the disability sector, within our healthcare sector, carers, families, friends and volunteers do an extraordinary job of supporting those who need it the most, and I do want to, as other members have done, put on the record today my thanks and my appreciation for the work that is done within this important sector. Previously as the Parliamentary Secretary for Carers and Volunteers, I did have the opportunity to meet with many within our community that are doing some extraordinary work, and I am sure that all members of the house would acknowledge that work and thank those working in the sector for their contribution and everything that they do.

We know on this side of the house the importance of constant improvement to systems where red tape may exist, but we know that reduction in that red tape and removing, if you like, many of those barriers that I mentioned earlier in my contribution goes to the highest quality of service and standards provided by the government. And making sure we are delivering in partnership with the federal government and with local government, the not-for-profit sector and those right across the community, making sure that we are continuing that partnership, that collaboration, is incredibly important to this government.

The bill delivers a whole range of provisions and amendments that go to many of the matters that were addressed in the disability plan2022–26, which was developed in consultation with the disability sector, those who had lived experience and of course the Victorian Disability Advisory Council. I do thank those who offered their passion, their time, their energy and their commitment to the plan. As a commitment to delivering the plan, this government allocated $15.1 million in last year’s budget, and this has gone toward constructing much-needed Changing Places facilities, encouraging Victorians to create more inclusive and accessible public spaces via the universal design grants program. There are key amendments within this legislation which remain unchanged from 2022, including clarifying residential rights and duties for people subject to civil and criminal orders in disability residential services and parameters for service providers in delivering residential and treatment services, and also ensuring residential rights and protections for people living in specialist disability accommodation that does not meet the current definition within the Residential Tenancies Act 1997.

We know that improved service is something that is often raised with members of the government and I am sure with all members of the house and indeed members in both houses. The bill aligns the legislation and removes the duplication, as I mentioned earlier, to ensure the accountability, consistency and approval requirements for the use of some of the restrictive practices for both the national disability insurance scheme and the state-funded disability service providers by addressing some of those gaps and clarifying the criteria and processes for compulsory treatment and placement in residential treatment facilities to support client and operational safety and strengthen clinical oversight. The bill also allows the minister to declare additional categories of disability accommodation so that community visitors can inquire into the quality and standards to support those residents.

As I mentioned earlier, better service coordination is a key element within this piece of legislation. We know that service coordination within this area is incredibly important to the individual, to families and to the wider community, and it is very pleasing to see a number of those steps contained within this piece of legislation. The bill clarifies the function and responsibilities of the Secretary of the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing to ensure the secretary is only responsible for services that the secretary funds. It also clarifies the secretary’s function in relation to acquiring, holding or disposing of land and granting land, and there is also a piece of work around duplication by allowing NDIS workers and the NDIS worker screening clearance in lieu of a criminal history check for voluntary registration of disability workers. There are within this amendment bill many functions and changes which, as I mentioned earlier, go to what are the most important areas in terms of support and in terms of reducing some of that duplication and making sure that the system and the structures around the individual provide a safe framework, and of course this is incredibly important.

During my time, as I mentioned earlier, as the Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Parliamentary Secretary for Carers and Volunteers I had the great privilege of serving as the government co-chair of the task force alongside independent co-chair Susan Pascoe. I want to acknowledge Susan, who really was an outstanding co-chair. I am not sure how we would have gotten through the amount of work, and the way in which Susan conducts herself is just extraordinary. I want to acknowledge that, but I also want to take the opportunity to acknowledge the work of the task force members. Their extraordinary dedication, their passion, their commitment to this space has been – and the work continues – absolutely outstanding. There was of course a whole range of work that needed to be done, that needed to be undertaken, and as I mentioned earlier, that work continues.

We know that being a responsive government, being a government that takes the practical decisions for those within our community who are facing the most tough and challenging and vulnerable areas within their lives, it is our role and responsibility to make sure that the framework that is put in place is about supporting those individuals. I mentioned earlier the work of the task force, but the passion and the drive and the dedication that those leaders within our community brought to that work and those that they work with is something that I know I was incredibly proud of. I just want to again put that on the record. This government will of course continue to work with the disability sector to positively engage and to ensure that the provisions within this piece of legislation are about ensuring that those people are supported.

We know the commencement of the social services regulatory scheme will be coming in July 2024, and I am confident that we have given the in-scope social services ample time to understand their obligations around the framework and the new regulation. The government of course understands that we have a responsibility to support those within our society and those within our community who need it the most. Whether that is delivering vital infrastructure to create safer communities or investing in services to improve many, many areas in those within our communities’ lives, as I mentioned earlier, they really do deserve our support. This piece of legislation is something that continues to build on our commitment around fairness and around equality, and I proudly commend the bill to the house.

Jordan CRUGNALE (Bass) (10:17): I rise to speak on the Disability and Social Services Regulation Amendment Bill 2023. We know that people with disability are some of our most vulnerable community members, and this bill seeks to provide greater safety and security to them, particularly those living in residential services. It is representative of this government’s ongoing commitment to the wellbeing of people living with disability. As I am sure you know and we have heard over the course of this debate, one in five, or over 4.4 million Australians, have some form of disability. In Victoria that is 18.4 per cent of our population. It is a category of vulnerability that any one of us could fall into at any time. But that is not why we should care about this bill; we should care because this bill and the changes it seeks to make will improve the safety and privacy of the lives of thousands of Victorians.

Over the years prior to this bill being brought before us we have heard some horrific stories about people having their human rights taken away and being treated with a complete lack of respect for their personhood. At a national level the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability in particular has shed light on some of these acts. There was the story of Hayden McLean, who according to evidence given to the commission was kept in a caged area in supported accommodation and was given psychotropic drugs to control his behaviour on many occasions without consent, and there have been stories of NDIS providers using unauthorised restraints on clients, including sedating them or strapping them down. It is awful. It is just awful, and hearing stories like these breaks your heart. But we can and must do something about it, and that is what this bill is about.

This bill seeks to amend three different acts: the Disability Act 2006, the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 and the Disability Service Safeguards Act 2018. The amendments proposed will increase the rights and protections that people with a disability deserve, better coordinate services, strengthen safeguards and clarify the responsibility of service providers. As I am sure you will remember, the Disability Amendment Bill 2022 was first introduced last year. This bill is largely similar to that, with the addition of reforms to the regulatory framework for social services as well as a few minor and technical amendments to the disability reforms which were previously introduced. What makes these amendments really important is the fact that they are informed by voices of people with disability.

This is truly a representative bill. It has been developed with extensive consultation during the development of the initial Disability Amendment Bill 2022, including submissions received from the public engagement with the Disability Act review advisory group, which was formally chaired by the esteemed Graeme Innes AM and centres lived experience and targeted consultation across the sector. We have put that lived experience at the heart of the development of this bill, right where it should be, and we know that stakeholders within the sector are in broad agreement with the proposed reforms. How pleasing it is to see that sort of rich consultation and agreement – truly transformative. We had such a great response to the request for consultation, and it is frankly about time to centre lived experience in the development of policy.

Despite the awful stories that we have heard about disability accommodation, like the ones I mentioned before, there have been spots of hope as the Andrews Labor government has already gotten on with the job of creating safer environments for Victorians with disability, laying the groundwork for today’s discussion. In 2021 we proposed the establishment of a new Social Services Regulator that would streamline and simplify the existing regulation of social services. With today’s new bill we seek to further embed safety and security into our social services regulation.

Just last year we launched our Inclusive Victoria: State Disability Plan (2022–2026), setting the agenda for this government’s approach to building a more inclusive and accessible community for the more than 1.1 million Victorians living with a disability. That agenda led directly to the bill we are discussing today. So today’s bill is one of the key outcomes of the Disability Act review that we have been undertaking since 2018 with the aim of ensuring our legislative frameworks are fit for purpose and contemporary and create meaningful change for Victorians with disability.

In my own electorate of Bass I hear often from parents and teachers and carers and guardians of children with a disability, and they are thrilled with this government’s track record on disability services and funding so far. Down in Bass that has included things like significant investment in a number of our specialist schools to help give Victorian kids the best start in life. Bass Coast Specialist School has received $1.93 million in upgrades. In the neighbouring electorate, South Gippsland Specialist School received $3.62 million and Officer Specialist received $3.62 million as well. This year the Clyde Creek Primary School specialist campus is just about to finish and will open, providing 50 spaces for primary school aged students with intellectual disabilities in the bustling and fast-growing suburb of Clyde.

Our electorate is growing every day. Singles, couples and families are drawn to our beautiful part of the world and are calling it home. This includes people with disability, their families and their carers. So with investments like the ones the Andrews Labor government is making, we are keeping a step ahead and creating the services and infrastructure these families rightly expect when they move to this gorgeous area.

Bass is not the only area investing heavily in the wellbeing and support that those students need. Last year we promised a statewide boost to specialist schools and services, including extra after-school and holiday care at every specialist school across Victoria. We also pledged to provide dedicated spaces for allied health services such as OT at the school to reduce the run-around for families and carers. Plus, we promised NDIS navigators in each of the schools to help parents and carers get the NDIS care they need and deserve and funding for training for support animals, which as many of us know, make a world of difference to all of us really. We truly are an Education State. These schools will deliver the best in education, using the latest resources and technology.

Of course it is not just about school. This bill will reduce some of that worry by ensuring that their children will be well cared for should they enter the supported accommodation system. We cannot stop there. Last year I met Josh Latham, the marketing officer at Bass Coast Adult Learning centre. He was organising a free business breakfast, beautifully named the Diverse-Ability Breakfast. The event was all about inclusive employment and showing business owners just how vital an employee with a disability can be. Josh wanted local businesses to know that there was a fresh pool of workers ready to be tapped into – people with diverse ability. Beau Vernon, who lives with a spinal cord injury, was an incredible guest speaker and also part of the panel discussion with industry representatives, including Maxima Joblink. It stands out in my mind as a positive and uplifting event, all about what people with diverse abilities can do, not what they cannot do. Josh said later that organising the breakfast was one of the most challenging things he had ever done, but added:

… I think with my ability it shows that I’m very capable. There’s always something people with Diverseability can do.

It was a genuine privilege to be able to attend this event and learn more about Josh’s ideas. This government will always focus on how to ensure that everyone, including people living with a disability, can settle in and find their place in our community. The passing of this bill will be yet another demonstration of how the Andrews Labor government cares about its people. It will ensure accountability and consistency within the disability service system, it closes gaps and it removes barriers and it protects vulnerable Victorians. I am so proud to be part of a government that has the wellbeing of our community at its heart. I commend the bill to the house.

Iwan WALTERS (Greenvale) (10:27): I am delighted to rise in support of this bill. I was really interested to hear about the investment that the Victorian Labor government is making in areas like the member for Bass’s electorate in disability support and special education. I think that is indicative of this government’s genuine engagement with these issues. It is a physically very large bill, and that reflects the importance, the ambition and the genuine need for the provisions in this bill, which will promote the rights of persons residing in residential services. It will align and reduce duplication. It will improve processes and practices relating to supervised treatment orders. It will provide a much clearer legislative authority to disclose protected identifiable information and clarify the functions of the secretary of the minister’s department. It will allow the Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers to declare additional categories of disability accommodation – I am going to dwell on that later in my contribution – and it will also amend the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 to address gaps in residential rights and protections for people living in specialist disability accommodation. In a nutshell, this bill is about dignity, respect and care for the most vulnerable Victorians, those who we as Parliament and we as a government have an obligation towards and who we need to ensure are provided with that dignity, that care and that respect.

I thank the minister and her team at the outset for the outstanding work that they have conducted in bringing this bill to the Parliament and for the minister’s genuine care and deep understanding, her longstanding passion in this space and her commitment to really impactful reform that is represented by that very large bill on the table. The consultation that has gone into this bill is reflective of that care, and we heard from the member for Bass just before about that advisory group chaired by Graeme Innes AM with Professor Keith McVilly as the deputy chair. I think the consultation with those with that lived experience that has gone into this bill ensures that its provisions are targeted at where the need arises.

I was not going to dwell on this, but it has been really interesting listening to contributions on this bill and in this debate from those who have brought their personal experiences to bear. I think we all approach debates in this house with our personal experiences in mind – it would be erroneous to pretend anything else – but I was particularly struck by the contributions of the member for Yan Yean and also the member for Gippsland South, who talked about their personal experiences. I too bring a personal experience to this debate, which shapes my contribution. I think particularly of my beautiful Aunty Kathy, who is not very well at the moment.

She lives with Down syndrome and has been living in a form of disability accommodation for many decades. Through my Aunty Kathy’s involvement with disability accommodation, it has been one of the most instrumental things in my life and in my family’s life in terms of our contribution to community, and it has brought us into contact with many other families who have loved ones with disability in their lives. It has exposed me and us to some of the really deep concerns that parents have about what happens to their children when they are gone and no longer able to care for them in the way that they would wish. That is why the provisions in this bill are so important, because they seek to ensure that that dignity, that care, that love is there, irrespective of the circumstances of the life of the person with a disability. When their families may not be able to provide care directly for them there is an obligation on us as a Parliament and as a civilised society to look out for and protect those who are most vulnerable. That is why I am particularly delighted to speak in support of this bill.

I want to acknowledge all of the disability support workers who make such a profound contribution to the lives of Victorians with disabilities. I think of people like my brother, who is now a teacher in the member for Narracan’s electorate but spent many years living in communities for adults with intellectual disabilities. Through that I saw the amazing community, the amazing richness and respect, that can exist when the ideal that this bill seeks to create exists in practice. Of course regrettably, and the member for Geelong touched upon this in her contribution yesterday, not everything is going to be like those communities. There are unfortunately too many instances – one instance is too many, but there are too many instances – where those with intellectual or physical disabilities living in specialist disability accommodation are not cared for, are exploited, are not respected, with their rights not respected, with the human rights that every Victorian should expect as a matter of course not properly upheld. That is why this bill is just so important.

The member for Bass touched upon the case of Hayden, whose mother very bravely gave evidence to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability a few years ago, talking about the experience of her son, who is severely autistic, epileptic, mildly intellectually disabled and highly sensitive to noise and unkindness. He had spent so much of his adult life suffering horribly through physical restraint and chemical intervention that was subsequently found to be illegal. You read stories like that of Hayden and they are heartbreaking. I apologise, but I am mindful of the experience of those in my family and those who do not have the opportunity to be loved and cared for as they should: people like Hayden, people like Ann Marie Smith, who was not a resident of this state and was not a resident of specialist disability accommodation but was an NDIS participant who died having been left to effectively rot in a wicker chair for a year. I think all Australians, when that revelation emerged and when the case of Ann Marie Smith came to light, were appalled, but I raise that now. She was not a Victorian but she was an Australian and she was a person, and that is what really matters. I raise that because it is indicative of what can happen if due care, if due attention, if regulatory systems do not work. If you get system failure, people die, and when people do not die, they live in indignity. They do not have their rights respected, and that is a tragedy. As a Parliament I am delighted that there is support from all sides for this bill. We cannot allow that to happen; it is our job as parliamentarians and, as I say, as a civilised society to ensure that wherever possible and whenever possible those rights are upheld and that people with disability have fulfilling, safe and respected lives. So I want to put on record Ann Marie Smith and her name, because she deserves it.

The dimension of the bill that I think is particularly germane to her story is the community visitors scheme. That is a vital protective measure against abuse and neglect, but there have been instances where the community visitors, who are appointed by Governor in Council, have not been able to go into forms of disability accommodation because they do not fall within the remit of the minister. There has been a bit of a legislative loophole, and I am so glad that the minister and her team have intervened to close that loophole and to make sure that it corrects what Colleen Pearce, Victoria’s public advocate, said had been:

a significant regulatory gap and was leaving highly vulnerable residents without oversight and at significant risk of harm.

And that is not an abstract risk of harm. Instances like Ann Marie Smith in South Australia and others which emerged through the royal commission indicate to us that these are real risks of harm, so expanding that community visitors scheme I think is a really important thing to have done, and I am delighted that the minister and her team have worked with those with lived experience and with the sector to ensure that the community visitors scheme is expanded.

I do want to talk a little bit about the work that the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee has undertaken with respect to this bill because things like the community visitors scheme which involve suitably authorised people coming into homes and potentially going into the bedrooms of adults or others with intellectual disabilities potentially creates a risk around breaches of privacy. I do want to assure the house that SARC has very carefully considered that potential breach of rights, but because of the safeguards that have been built into the bill, because of the proportionality and because of the need to reduce risk, SARC agreed with human rights experts and the minister that there is no undue breach. So with that, I commend this bill to the house. I thank the minister. Its provisions are worthy and necessary.

Paul EDBROOKE (Frankston) (10:37): It is a pleasure to rise to speak on the Disability and Social Services Regulation Amendment Bill 2023. Can I just start by saying I came in on the tail end of the member for Greenvale’s speech, but jeez I tell you what, if I had been in Parliament for less than a year and I could offer contributions like that in this house – heartfelt with vision and commitment to actually changing people’s lives in Victoria – I would be pretty proud, and I think he should be very proud of himself right now.

We have heard from the opposition that they are not going to vote against the bill, which is fantastic. In my contribution I would like to talk about some of the facets of the bill but also talk about one or two misconceptions. There are no Machiavellian games going on, but there are some misconceptions about this bill, and we can touch on that.

I had the absolute pleasure, or ‘privilege’ would be a better word, of being part of the Family and Community Development Committee, which sat through the inquiry into abuse in disability services in Victoria a few years ago. The current Speaker, the member for Bendigo West, was the chair. The member for Geelong was on that inquiry as well. You know, a few words come to mind – harrowing, neglect, disgust, liability – these were all things we heard from people with lived experience who came, who took the time out of their day, and people who were absolute survivors and talked about their family members or their own experience in the disability services sector. It was very clear from the outset that a lot of improvement was required and a lot of reform was required. To that end, the inquiry came out with some recommendations. This government has acted on those recommendations, and some of those recommendations have actually morphed into what is in this bill as well.

We heard yesterday from the member for Gippsland East, who is a pretty good fellow I reckon, pretty honest. He came into the house and he said something that I thought was pretty interesting. He said we have got this royal commission federally coming out into abuse in disability services, so why don’t we wait to sync up the recommendations that they have got with this bill? And for that I would say we have already been through this. We have had the Victorian inquiry. We have got a fair idea of what is wrong in the sector because we have heard from people in the sector, the people that work in the sector, the families and the actual clients themselves, about what is happening in this sector. I personally do not think there is any excuse for us to be sitting on our hands and doing nothing right now. I think it would be a mistake to wait another six months. If there are things that come out in that federal royal commission, there is nothing stopping us from making changes to bills in the future or changes to legislation. It happens every day.

But what I think we will find is that Victoria is leading the way. We will find that the federal recommendations from their inquiry are very synonymous with the Victorian ones, because people with a disability in Victoria are not unlike anyone in the nation with a disability. They go through the same hardships, they go through the same challenges, and so do their families. As a former SST teacher – special school teacher – you are not just a teacher in those schools. You are a family member because you are doing a lot of pastoral care. You are helping clients and school students physically to put harnesses on, getting them into chairs, toileting and administering medications – even per rectal valium. It is one of those industries where the people that work in it are often very, very special people. So we take nothing away from them when we talk about the fact that there are people in these industries that do the wrong thing. They are terrible. We need to make sure that everyone who could be at risk is not at risk because these people are in the work they are.

One of the most shocking revelations that came out of the Victorian inquiry was the fact that we had a loophole as far as people getting police checks. We had people who were not being picked up because the police checks were not of a national and broad variety. To give an example, we heard of people who abused their role in Victoria, and it was later found out that they had moved from another state and there was a pattern of behaviour in that state. Coming from a teaching background, I thought the solution was pretty simple. You have a national police register with a national police check, and you have a system like the Victorian Institute of Teaching has to professionalise a sector of work, and I was very, very surprised that this had not happened. That is when we recommended the disability worker exclusion scheme. This bill goes a long way to making sure that that is in place but also to making sure that we are not actually making workers – well-intended workers, qualified workers who do the right thing – jump through hoops in getting a police check in Victoria and then getting a national police check for the NDIS. So we are removing that duplication.

We need to make sure, as the member for Greenvale so elegantly put, that these people who are our family, our friends, are looked after in the best way possible and that there is no risk to them. We have heard absolutely harrowing stories of abuse in disability services. I will go on record as I have before to say that if I had my time again with the disability services commissioner, I would have ripped into him more than I did. To hear that a person could actually abuse someone in a care home – and instead of there being consequences the DSC at the time preferred to use the carrot, not the stick. Imagine being a family member knowing that your daughter is being abused, and instead of that person being taken away they are actually coached on their behaviour. They are told that holding a vibrating pager next to the genitalia of a person in their care is wrong and not to do it again.

Hearing that in that inquiry I leant around to the lawyers and said, ‘Are we off the hook here? We can just say what we want, yeah?’ I was just thinking, ‘Is this for real?’ So I read the DSC is no longer required. Personally I think the DSC is a well-meaning position, and I know the government was well intentioned at the time putting that in, but that particular person, that individual, was not up to the task. We should have zero tolerance for abuse in our disability services. We should have zero tolerance of not reporting things. We have community visitors going in who need access to certain places, and again this bill, as we have heard people touch on, gives those community visitors access to rooms that they might not necessarily have at the moment to ensure that people are not living in squalor, to ensure that people are living as people in this house now think they would be and think they deserve to be and think they have a right to be because that is their human right.

It is really unfortunate that we actually have to be in this house looking at this legislation and saying we all agree with it and it should go through. I think most of us in this house would be shocked and surprised, occasionally, by stories that come out of witnesses at inquiries; I certainly was through that inquiry. But to say we need to sit back and wait for a federal inquiry to, once again, most likely – in my opinion – tell us what we already know and probably align recommendations with our inquiry, because they know we have had one, to not actually act on what we have and lead the nation, as the Andrews Labor government likes to do – why wouldn’t we do that? It is a huge mistake not to be in this house right now saying that we are doing the right thing. We should get this legislation through to protect people at risk as soon as possible. There is a chance later on to make sure that if we can improve on this through federal recommendations, we do that. I am sure everyone in this chamber would consider that, and they would not consider it lightly. As soon as those recommendations come out, I know that I for one will be reading through them and seeing what possibly we could improve on, because when we are working in these sectors, when we are responsible for the sectors, we have a duty of care to ensure that we are improving. If we are standing still, we are just going backwards.

There is always something more we can do for the people in our community that are at risk, who are our family members, who are our friends. Hearing stories of abuse that should not have happened is heartbreaking. It changes people’s lives. It changes families’ lives. This bill goes a long way to making sure that we can protect people at risk, protect people who are vulnerable. I know that it is bipartisan in its support, and I commend the bill to the house.

Meng Heang TAK (Clarinda) (10:47): It is a great honour and I am delighted to join the member for Frankston and the member for Greenvale to speak on this bill, the Disability and Social Services Regulation Amendment Bill 2023. This is another important bill, one of several in this space that have come through Parliament in recent times. Before I go on I would like to note the heartfelt contribution from the member for Greenvale about his aunty and brother. Yesterday the member for Yan Yean shared the story of her brother. It is a difficult time.

I was proud to speak on the Disability Amendment Bill 2022 late last year, and I am also proud of the many disability advocates that we have in my electorate of Clarinda that have contributed to and advocated for these changes. The Reverend Deacon Andrea Mayes, from the Heatherton–Dingley Uniting Church, as well as Mark Zirnsak, the Uniting Church’s senior social justice advocate, are two that come to mind. There are many more and many that made really meaningful and impactful contributions to the Disability Act review, which I will touch on in a moment. During the Disability Act review and the development of these amendments I had the pleasure of sitting down with both Andrea and Mark to discuss the importance of these reforms and the difference that these changes will make to the lives of some of the members of the Heatherton–Dingley church and community members more generally. These changes here are important reforms that enhance services, safeguards and important protections, and this legislation will deliver the changes needed that were identified by the review.

As I have mentioned before, social justice is a key principle of this government – equality, fairness and promoting an inclusive society and a cohesive society. These are some of the pillars of the government’s agenda. We can see that here again in this important legislation before us here today. The bill forms part of stage 2 of the Disability Act review and will introduce critical amendments to further enhance services, safeguards and protections. That review, as we know, has been an important process in modernising Victoria’s disability legislation and inclusive framework.

The act is an important source of rights and protections for all Victorians with disability, and we have heard that one in six people have special needs or a disability. We need to make sure the Disability Act 2006 and supporting legislation is contemporary and fit for purpose for the more than 1.1 million Victorians with a disability or special needs to ensure that we have legislation that best promotes inclusion and tackles this inequality. So I am happy to see further changes here again today.

The bill will also amend the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 to promote residential rights in specialist disability accommodation and the Disability Service Safeguards Act 2018 in relation to worker screening and make several amendments to the Social Services Regulation Act 2021 (SSR act) to ensure that it operates effectively to protect the safety of social services users.

This is an important and pressing piece of legislation, and as we heard from the member for Frankston, who put it correctly and nicely, there is an expectation from many stakeholders that this important legislation moves quickly to address gaps in residential protections for Victorians with special needs in disability accommodation and to strengthen equality and safeguards for people with a disability. We see that expectation in the community, and we have also seen that through feedback received through the consultation process on the Disability Act 2006 on Engage Victoria in September 2021. Just on that consultation process, there was a considerable process conducted throughout 2021, and this bill has been informed by submissions received during the public consultation process; engagement with the expert Disability Act review advisory group, which was chaired by Graeme Innes AM, Australia’s former disability discrimination commissioner; and targeted consultation across the sectors and government. This was a broad process, and stakeholders are in broad agreement with the proposed reforms.

The Disability Amendment Bill 2022 was introduced in 2022 to address the critical gaps in residential protections for Victorians in disability accommodation and to strengthen equality and safeguards for people with disability. Unfortunately, the bill lapsed at the end of the 59th Parliament. So I am happy to see this bill here today, and I hope that it has a speedy passage through both houses so that this important reform can be delivered and implemented as soon as possible.

In terms of the two bills, the Disability and Social Services Regulation Amendment Bill 2023 is substantially similar to last year’s Disability Amendment Bill 2022. The new bill incorporates some key additional amendments, being reforms to the regulatory framework for social services as well as a few minor and technical amendments to the disability reforms which were previously introduced. Just regarding the amendments to the SSR act, there is a provision of powers for authorised officers to enter bedrooms in supported residential services and disability residential services without consent in limited circumstances, as we have heard. The member for Frankston already alluded to that safeguard. Safeguards are also proposed in relation to interviews or hearings with those in out-of-home care, who are mostly children, under the worker and carer exclusion scheme, to ensure children are not harmed, and similar provisions exist for the reportable conduct scheme and the child safe standards scheme. In addition, there are numerous clarifications and minor technical and consequential amendments. Logically, the default commencement for the bill has been moved from 1 September 2023 to 1 July 2024 to align with the planned commencement of the SSR act.

Further, as mentioned, the bill is substantively similar to last year’s Disability Amendment Bill 2022, and I was proud to speak in support of that bill and am proud to speak in support of this legislation before us here again. These are comprehensive changes, important and pressing changes that are very much needed to better promote rights of persons residing in residential services and to address gaps in the residential rights and protections for people living in special needs disability accommodation.

Equality, fairness, promoting an inclusive society and a cohesive society – these are the rights at the heart of what this government stands for. Our goal, and our promise, is to continue to break down the barriers that limit people with disability from truly participating in all aspects of our community, so we see that again here in this important legislation before us today. I am proud to speak in support of this bill, and I commend the bill to the house.

Luba GRIGOROVITCH (Kororoit) (10:56): I too am very proud to speak in support of this bill. With more than 1.1 million people in Victoria living with disability, these are people who deserve the fullest support of government in order to live fulfilling lives; to engage, participate and contribute to society and to ensure that their rights, health and dignity are protected at all times.

On that note I want to reflect a little on my circumstances and my caring responsibilities that I have had throughout my life. My mum very bravely took on the caring responsibilities for my uncle. He is a gorgeous man, Uncle Kenny, and many of you in this chamber have met him before. From the day I was born I remember Uncle Ken living at home with us and us taking full responsibility and caring for him. It is not something that is easy to do, but it is something where, if you are blessed enough to be able to do it, you are lucky. But as we heard from the member for Greenvale, not everyone is as lucky, and that is why bills like this are so important.

These amendments will make important and critical changes to enhance services, safeguards, rights and protections for people with a disability. They will address the national disability insurance scheme implementation issues and address unintended regulatory burdens and operational difficulties. An important and sometimes challenging part of government’s responsibility to people with disability is balancing their rights to privacy, dignity and respect with their rights to access safe services and to live in safe premises. This extends to being able to properly enforce a person’s right to safety and protection and ensure these rights are being complied with by those who have been entrusted with their residency or care.

The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability took a key focus on what governments, institutions and the community can do to better protect people with disability, and these amendments will ensure that such safeguards are in place for people with disabilities. It also includes additional time-critical amendments to the Social Services Regulation Act 2021 to support the effective operation of the new regulatory framework commencing on 1 July 2024. With the Disability Amendment Bill 2022 lapsing at the end of the 59th Parliament, this bill introduces these reforms proposed in the bill, which is consistent with the government’s ongoing commitment to better supporting Victorians with a disability.

The bill is one of the key outcomes of the Disability Act 2006 review, which has progressed over three stages. With the first stage completed in 2019, the second stage is currently underway. This bill clarifies residential rights and duties for people in disability residential services and increases residential protections for Victorians in disability accommodation, as well as strengthening quality and safeguards for service providers delivering residential and treatment services. It also ensures residential rights protections for people living in specialist disability accommodation that do not meet current definitions in the Residential Tenancies Act 1997. Amendments are also being made to ensure that residents in specialist disability accommodation, NDIS and state-funded long-term disability accommodation are afforded residential rights and protections under the Residential Tenancies Act. They will provide protections for persons with a disability living in these forms of accommodation prior to the commencement of the bill who may not have previously qualified for a specialist disability accommodation agreement.

The most substantive of these amendments will enable authorised officers or independent investigators to enter supported residential services and disability residential services without consent or warrant in limited circumstances to ensure that the provider is meeting their requirements to ensure the person’s safety and protection. We have all heard the horrific stories over the years of the treatment of vulnerable people in supported residential service settings. It is heartbreaking, and it should never occur. The amendments will protect residents by balancing their rights with the need to ensure that they are not being improperly influenced by proprietors to prevent an inspection and the need to ensure residents are receiving appropriate care. These amendments include several safeguards to ensure the powers are only used when necessary. The authorised officer or investigator must take all reasonable steps to obtain the consent of the service user – that is, the person with the disability – before entering. If consent is unable to be obtained, entry may only be effected if the officer or investigator considers the entry reasonably necessary for the purposes of monitoring compliance with a provision of the act. These legislative safeguards will be further strengthened by operating procedures developed by the regulator, who will regularly review the use of these powers of entry to ensure that they are being exercised properly.

The bill will also allow the Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers to declare additional categories of disability accommodation so that community visitors can inquire into the quality and standard of support provided to the residents. The bill also clarifies the functions and responsibilities of the Secretary of the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.

Lastly, the bill removes duplications in the NDIS and state-funded disability provider system. The screening checks for NDIS-registered disability workers are currently duplicated and present needless red tape. This legislation will allow an NDIS worker clearance in lieu of a criminal history check for voluntary registration of disability workers. The bill strengthens information-sharing provisions about changes or cancellations of the NDIS clearance between the board and the NDIS worker screening unit. A variation to the amendments for the lapsed 2022 bill has been made to enable confirmation of the NDIS clearance electronically, and the board will not be required to obtain a physical copy of the clearance certificate. With the majority of disability services now having been transitioned to the NDIS, this bill will also effect the dissolution of the Disability Services Board. The removal of this unnecessary red tape will hopefully encourage more disability workers to register and help to professionalise the disability workforce in Victoria.

I also note that this bill includes safeguards in relation to mitigating any negative effects when interviews or hearings involve children in out-of-home care under the worker or carer exclusion scheme. These provisions are modelled on similar provisions in the reportable conduct scheme and the child safeguards scheme. I feel that there is much more work still to be done in this space of children in out-of-home care and attending to their needs, but I welcome this next step. More significant and complex areas of the Disability Act 2006 are planned to be considered next year as part of the next stage of the Disability Act review, which I look forward to.

On speaking to this bill it would be remiss of me not to mention the work of the Health and Community Services Union and the workers and their members who do so much in this space. I believe the most important thing is that the people living with disability, as much as they can be, and their loved ones in our community are always the ones who are in the pilot seat of any changes which concern them and that are to be made regarding their lives and their welfare. They are citizens who have an equal stake in an Australian story, and they and their loved ones should expect nothing less than the right to live decent and fulfilled lives with respect. I look forward to conferring with representatives of the disabled community and disability care sector ahead of further legislative changes next year, and my door is always open to them.

I must say that there was not a dry eye in the room during the Premier’s announcement last year when he announced our plans as a government to deliver better disability support for families and children in our state, a long-awaited announcement welcomed wholeheartedly by everyone across Victoria. This issue is close to not only my heart, having helped care for my Uncle Ken, but also those of my staff. I see firsthand just how much work is required to ensure that people with a disability are loved and treated with dignity and respect.

Any assistance that we can provide as a government to carers is a step in the right direction and one that I will always support. I thank and commend the Andrews government for their work in the disability sector in introducing this bill, especially the minister, Lizzie Blandthorn, for her work. I commend the bill to the Assembly, and I hope all follow.

Colin BROOKS (Bundoora – Minister for Housing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (11:05): I move:

That the debate be adjourned.

Motion agreed to and debate adjourned.

Ordered that debate be adjourned until later this day.