In accordance with the Public Sector Act 2009, I am pleased to present the annual report of the South Australian Department of Human Services (DHS) for the year ending 30 June 2023. The annual report outlines the achievements and performance of DHS, including the financial performance of the department, for the 2022–23 financial year.
It has been a privilege to lead DHS in the absence of Lois Boswell, who is taking personal leave to manage her health. We send our best wishes to her at this time.
A focus of the department over the past year has been the delivery of a number of the State Government’s election commitments. This includes:
- Doubling the Cost of Living Concession amount per eligible household in the 2022–23 financial year, to alleviate cost of living pressure to those most in need.
- Establishing a Gender Pay Gap Taskforce to consider the factors that contribute to the gender pay gap and provide informed, evidence-based recommendations on the systemic and related approaches the public and private sectors can undertake to reduce and ultimately eliminate the gender pay gap.
- Re-establishing the Premier’s Women’s Directory to support the Government’s commitment to achieving 50 per cent representation of women on each State Government board and committee.
- Delivering a grant funding program to support the South Australian Men’s and Women’s shed community.
- Establishing the LGBTIQA+ Minister’s Advisory Council, Youth Minister’s Advisory Council and the Disability Minister’s Advisory Council to provide a direct voice to the Government.
We have continued to develop the state’s first Autism Strategy, which will intersect and work alongside our State Disability Inclusion Plan. This is another State Government election commitment and is an important step towards creating a more inclusive and knowledgeable community where autistic people can meaningfully participate, have their fundamental rights upheld, and contribute effectively in decision-making in matters that affect them.
The development of an Autism Charter, led by the Office for Autism within the Department of the Premier and Cabinet in partnership with DHS, is progressing well and will establish a set of overarching principles that each State Government agency will be required to sign up to, demonstrating their ongoing commitment to supporting South Australians with autism. Both the Strategy and the Charter will be implemented across the public sector in 2024.
Our commitment to reduce family and domestic violence across our community has continued in this last year under the Family Safety Framework (FSF) and Family Safety Portal.
The FSF is a statewide, multi-agency (government and non-government) systematic approach to information sharing and coordinated multi-agency action planning to mitigate risk of serious or lethal harm to people living in high-risk family and domestic violence situations. The FSF brings together partner agencies including SAPOL, Department for Education, Department for Child Protection, Department for Correctional Services, SA Housing Authority, SA Health, DHS and relevant non-government organisations, including specialist family and domestic violence services, to exchange information to support a more coordinated, rapid response to high-risk family and domestic violence victims.
Over the last two years, DHS has also created the Family Safety Portal and this year, the Portal has been functional for all agencies to undertake risk assessments and submit referrals.
DHS is also leading the Government’s election commitment to review more than 20 state concessions, which are worth more than $255 million. On 22 February 2023, the Minister for Human Services publicly launched the review with the first meeting of a Project Reference Group, comprising seven key peak non-government agencies and Veterans SA. The group is representing the interests of low-income community groups, identifying change priorities for detailed exploration and providing advice on engagement, including the potential for wider engagement later in the review process.
In the past year we have continued to lead the implementation of strategies of the Safety and Wellbeing Taskforce, which was established in March 2021, in response to concerns around an increase in anti-social behaviour in the Adelaide CBD associated with visitors from remote communities, and extended to a statewide scope in early 2022. The Adelaide-based DHS Remote Visitor Response program has continued to support visitors to return to community, coordinated tenancy support, improved service coordination, and reduced emergency department presentations and admissions.
Since November 2022, the department has been leading the Port Augusta Community Outreach Response to address anti-social behaviour associated with visitors from remote Aboriginal communities through supporting safe return to community, and a coordinated assertive outreach response with local service providers. DHS is also establishing a multi-agency Intensive Youth Response to support young people engaging with the justice system.
We have continued to reform the Child and Family Support System (CFSS) with family support services to meet the needs of children and families who, without early support, are at risk of requiring child protection service involvement. The Strong Families, Strong Communities program marks a new phase in the CFSS, designed to better support families with low to medium-level risk factors before their challenges escalate. The recommissioning was finalised during 2022–23, with new services, delivered by non-government partner organisations, commencing on 1 July 2023.
Safer Family Services, as the government service provider, has established a further three Child and Family Safety Networks, totalling 16 locations statewide. These provide a multi-agency collaborative approach for effective and efficient referral and allocation of children with high/very high risk and safety concerns. DHS has also successfully implemented several out-of-home care prevention and intergenerational impact programs, and the pilot programs that were due to finish in 2022–23 have all moved from pilot phase to program status.
Reducing the overrepresentation of Aboriginal young people in the justice system continues to be a key focus in line with commitments under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. We have also established a new Aboriginal Practice and Services Team within the Communities and Justice directorate to strengthen programs, services and partnerships and improve outcomes for Aboriginal children and young people.
Other highlights of the past 12 months include:
- Completing a review of the South Australian Disability Inclusion Act 2018 to enhance our commitment to disability access and inclusion within South Australia.
- Consulting with government agencies, non-government organisations, and people with lived experience in drafting a new state strategy to respond to family, domestic and sexual violence.
- Completing an independent evaluation of the first year of the Community Connections Program, which highlighted a range of positive outcomes and has informed its future direction.
- Commencing the upgrade of existing Personal AlertSA customers from 3G to 4G compatible devices, given the expected cessation of 3G in 2024.
- Commencing the development of South Australia’s Youth Action Plan 2023–2026 in consultation with young people, the youth sector and other key stakeholders, to ensure the South Australian Government better meets the needs of young people by delivering fairer and more equitable access to opportunities, resources and supports.
- Working with the Commonwealth and other jurisdictions to establish a nationally consistent worker screening check through the expansion of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) worker screening arrangements to the aged care sector.
- Providing additional funding to Volunteering SA&NT to prepare a State of Volunteering Report to explore the social, cultural and economic contribution of volunteers to the state’s economy and enable the monitoring of volunteering trends over time.
- Partnering with the Adelaide Crows, Adelaide 36ers and Adelaide Giants to challenge the normalisation of gambling in sport as part the Here for the Game sports betting harm minimisation campaign.
Finally, I would like to thank all staff members and our partners in the non-government sector for their hard work and dedication during the year. I would also like to acknowledge the continued support and strong leadership provided to the department by Minister Cook and Minister Hildyard.
Sandy Pitcher
Chief Executive
Department of Human Services