What: A delegation of Department of Human Services disability support workers deliver a message to the office of Human Services Minister Nat Cook.

Where: Minister Nat Cook’s electorate office, Shop 2, 185-191 Bains Rd, Woodcroft Town Centre, Morphett Vale, SA 5162

When: 12 noon, Thursday, July 24

Who: Department of Human Services disability support workers and Demi  Pnevmatikos, United Workers Union SA State Secretary and National Public Sector Director.

Hard-working Department of Human Services (DHS) disability support workers are protesting for better pay and fair treatment at the doorstep of their Minister in Adelaide today as part of escalating industrial action in their enterprise bargaining campaign.

A delegation of disability support workers will protest at Human Services Minister Nat Cook’s office calling on the Malinauskas Government to address long-standing pay issues.

These workers are the lowest paid in the entire country, earning at least 20% less than the next lowest paid. They are unable to keep up with cost of living and short staffing is impacting the vulnerable people they support.

Disability support workers have revealed the double whammy of understaffing and low pay in a newly-released survey that shows:

  • 82 per cent said people they supported had missed out on activities because of understaffing.
  • 79 per cent agreed their personal safety has been put at risk due to understaffing.
  • 79 per cent agreed someone they supported had been put at risk due to understaffing.
  • 56 per cent said they always or most of the time felt anxiety about sleepover shifts.
  • 87 per cent agreed that DHS has struggled to attract, recruit and keep staff.

Survey responses depict high-pressure workplaces where understaffing and unfamiliar staffing often lead to difficult situations for those they are supporting – leaving low-paid DHS workers picking up the pieces.

Disability support workers are arguing their Sunday pay should match the pay rates of workers who are employed under the Federal award – a discrepancy that currently leaves them $25.60 an hour worse off.

The State Government is already receiving the higher rates of pay through Federal NDIS funding, but rather than passing the wages directly to workers as they should, the Government is banking it instead.

The pay difference between state-employed disability support workers and those in the private and not-for-profit sector is leading to chronic understaffing within state-run disability support homes.

Understaffing has resulted in an over-reliance on temporary agency workers, with the state government spending $14.2 million on agency support staff in 2024, up from an already high $9.7 million in 2022.

Quotes attributable to Demi Pnevmatikos, SA State Secretary and National Public Sector Director, United Workers Union

“Disability support workers do the hard yards of supporting the most high needs and vulnerable people living with disabilities in Australia.

“The Malinauskas government is stealing NDIS funding from the pockets of its lowest paid workers and compromising the people they support. It’s daylight robbery, they have been getting away with it for too long and it needs to stop.

“The people of South Australia should know their loved ones are being given the highest level of support which cannot happen with the current exodus of experienced disability support workers from the state-government-run service. This government won’t solve the jobs crisis until they pay and recognise their hard working disability support workers.”

About the survey: More than 200 disability support workers (N=221) answered detailed questions about their views of their career and the impacts of their worklife.

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