Speeches
Monday, 26 August 2024
Advance Care Planning with Vulnerable Populations Report Launch Reception
Opening remarks by His Excellency The Hon Chief Justice, Chris Kourakis, Administrator of South Australia
I acknowledge the Kaurna people as the traditional custodians of the land on which we are gathering and pay my respects to the elders.
I am delighted to welcome you to Government House for the launch of the Advanced Care Planning with Vulnerable Populations report.
Her Excellency sends her sincere apologies that she can’t be with you in person today, but, knowing of the importance of this issue, she has recorded a video which will be played in a few moments.
Before doing so, I add my congratulations to everyone involved in the research and those who have supported this report.
I am sure individuals and families - alongside those in the medical profession - will welcome its signposts into ways we can make advanced care better planned, more widely known, relevant to diverse groups and better accepted.
And now I hand over to a virtual Governor.
Video message delivered by Her Excellency the Honourable Frances Adamson AC, Governor of South Australia
Hello everyone!
I am sorry I can’t be with you in person to launch the Advance care planning with vulnerable populations report as Rod and I are currently in the APY Lands.
Reading the report gave me insights into culturally appropriate advance care planning in the communities I am visiting.
Throughout our lives there are times we are faced with difficult conversations. Perhaps it’s human nature to want to avoid them; they are too personal; too confronting.
But, for our own sakes and those of our loved ones, we need to learn how to deal with these situations and have these conversations.
Advance care planning is a case in point.
It’s an issue we could and should talk about more openly and probably sooner than we think we need to.
And, taking a wider approach, as a society, we need to consider differing cultural needs, which are many and varied in our diverse nation.
This report again shows that South Australia continues to be a leader in this field.
As you know, my late mother, Jennifer Cashmore, co-chaired a Select Committee into Palliative Care which after very thorough consultation and consensus building resulted in the 1995 Consent to Medical Treatment and Palliative Care Act.
Her words as part of that consultation still resonate:
“We should be asking deeper questions.
We should be asking why so many people dread the prospect of pain, of being a burden, of being in a vegetative or demented state, and dread the loss of identity and dignity that goes with that.
We should be asking how society can care more adequately for these people and relieve their suffering and loneliness, and we should be asking how we can help health professionals achieve that goal.”
I congratulate everyone involved in the Advance care planning with vulnerable populations Report for undertaking similarly wide consultation over a number of years, guided by a commitment to support equity and cultural awareness.
Because we can make any system better. As the report notes, that might be as simple as on-going clinical training, less complex and common language leading to a shared understanding, and accommodating cultural variations.
Ultimately, we need to encourage discussion among ourselves, our families, and our health professionals, because as my mother once observed: death has been screened out of our lives.
With that in mind, both Rod and I have made a start on discussions with our children and siblings about Advance Care Directives.
I congratulate everyone involved in producing this report, which is the result of nearly 10 years of collaboration between academics, policymakers, healthcare professionals, advocacy agencies and community organisations.
I thank the authors Jaklin Eliott and Katherine Hodgetts, the Research Team, the contributing partners, and the working groups.
I also pay tribute to Mary Brooksbank, for her chairing of the Research Governance Committee, and to the late Dr Teresa Burgess, whose vision and commitment motivated the research.
I trust the report’s recommendations will help support under-served communities and help further guide medical care and decision making.