{"id":"disability-services-community-visitor-scheme-regulations-2013","name":"Disability Services (Community Visitor Scheme) Regulations 2013","slug":"disability-services-community-visitor-scheme-regulations-2013","collection":"regulation","jurisdiction":"sa","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":235383,"registerId":"sa-disability-services-community-visitor-scheme-regulations-2013-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-06","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Disability Services (Community Visitor Scheme) Regulations 2013","content":"South Australia\nDisability Services (Community Visitor Scheme) Regulations 2013\nunder the Disability Services Act 1993\n\nContents\n1\tShort title\n3\tInterpretation\n4\tFunctions of community visitors\n5\tRequests to see community visitors\n6\tReports by community visitors\nLegislative history\n\n1—Short title\nThese regulations may be cited as the Disability Services (Community Visitor Scheme) Regulations 2013.\n3—Interpretation\nIn these regulations, unless the contrary intention appears—\nAct means the Disability Services Act 1993;\ncommunity visitor has the same meaning as in the Mental Health Act 2009;\nday options program means a daytime program provided to an eligible person at premises other than the person's usual place of residence for the purpose of developing life-skills, further learning or recreation;\nday options program premises means any premises at which a day options program is provided;\ndisability accommodation premises means any premises at which a disability services provider is providing accommodation services to persons with disabilities (including short term accommodation, for example for respite care);\neligible person means an adult person with a disability who has, in connection with a funding arrangement under a law of this State or the Commonwealth, been assessed as unable to work or undertake formal study;\nPrincipal Community Visitor has the same meaning as in the Mental Health Act 2009;\nresident means a person with a disability who resides at disability accommodation premises.\n4—Functions of community visitors\n\t(1)\tCommunity visitors have the following functions under these regulations:\n\t(a)\tto visit disability accommodation premises to inquire into the following matters:\n\t(i)\tthe appropriateness and standard of the premises for the accommodation of residents;\n\t(ii)\tthe adequacy of opportunities for inclusion and participation by residents in the community;\n\t(iii)\twhether the accommodation services are being provided in accordance with the principles and objectives specified in Schedules 1 and 2 of the Act;\n\t(iv)\twhether residents are provided with adequate information to enable them to make informed decisions about their accommodation, care and activities;\n\t(v)\tany case of abuse or neglect, or suspected abuse or neglect, of a resident;\n\t(vi)\tthe use of restrictive interventions and compulsory treatment;\n\t(vii)\tany failure to comply with the provisions of the Act or a performance agreement entered into between a disability services provider and the Minister;\n\t(viii)\tany complaint made to a community visitor by a resident, guardian, medical agent, relative, carer or friend of a resident, or any other person providing support to a resident;\n\t(ab)\tto visit day options program premises to inquire into the following matters:\n\t(i)\tthe appropriateness and standard of the premises for the provision of the disability services;\n\t(ii)\twhether the day options programs are being provided in accordance with the principles and objectives specified in Schedules 1 and 2 of the Act;\n\t(iii)\tany case of abuse or neglect, or suspected abuse or neglect, of a person attending a day options program at the premises;\n\t(iv)\tthe use of restrictive interventions and compulsory treatment;\n\t(v)\tany failure to comply with the provisions of the Act or a performance agreement entered into between a disability services provider at the premises and the Minister;\n\t(vi)\tany complaint made to a community visitor by a person attending a day options program or a guardian, medical agent, relative, carer or friend of such a person, or any other person providing support to such a person;\n\t(b)\tto refer matters of concern relating to the organisation or delivery of disability services in South Australia to the Minister;\n\t(c)\tto act as advocates for residents and for persons attending day options programs to promote the proper resolution of issues relating to the care, treatment or control of such persons, including issues raised by a guardian, medical agent, relative, carer or friend of such a person or any person who is providing support to such a person.\n\t(2)\tA community visitor may, for the purposes of carrying out the functions of a community visitor, enter disability accommodation premises or day options program premises at any reasonable time and, while on the premises, may—\n\t(a)\tmeet with a resident or person attending a day options program; and\n\t(b)\twith the permission of the manager of the premises—inspect the premises or any equipment or other thing on the premises; and\n\t(c)\trequest any person to produce documents or records; and\n\t(d)\texamine documents or records produced and request to take extracts from, or make copies of, any of them.\n5—Requests to see community visitors\n\t(1)\tA request to see a community visitor may be made by any of the following persons:\n\t(a)\ta resident;\n\t(b)\ta person attending a day options program;\n\t(c)\ta guardian, medical agent, relative, carer or friend of a person referred to in paragraph (a) or (b);\n\t(d)\tany other person who is providing support to a person referred to in paragraph (a) or (b).\n\t(2)\tIf a request is made under subregulation (1) to a manager of, or a person in a position of authority at, disability accommodation premises or day options program premises that person must advise a community visitor of the request within 2 days after receipt of the request.\n6—Reports by community visitors\n\t(1)\tAfter a visit to disability accommodation premises or day options program premises, the community visitors must (unless 1 of them is the Principal Community Visitor) report to the Principal Community Visitor about the visit in accordance with the requirements of the Principal Community Visitor.\n\t(2)\tThe Principal Community Visitor must, on or before 30 September in every year, forward a report to the Minister on the work of the community visitors under these regulations during the financial year ending on the preceding 30 June.\n\t(3)\tThe Principal Community Visitor may, at any time, prepare a special report to the Minister on any matter arising out of the performance of the community visitors' functions.\n\t(4)\tThe Minister must, within 6 sitting days after receiving a report under this regulation, have copies of the report laid before both Houses of Parliament.\nLegislative history\nNotes\n\t•\tFor further information relating to the Act and subordinate legislation made under the Act see the Index of South Australian Statutes or www.legislation.sa.gov.au.\nRevocation of regulations\nThe Disability Services (Community Visitor Scheme) Regulations 2013 will be revoked by r 3 of the Disability Services (Community Visitor Scheme) Repeal Regulations 2025 on 1.7.2026.\nPrincipal regulations and variations\nNew entries appear in bold.\nYear\nNo\nReference\nCommencement\n2013\n31\nGazette 2.5.2013 p1392 \n2.5.2013: r 2\n2017\n77\nGazette 7.6.2017 p2048\n7.6.2017: r 2\nProvisions varied\nNew entries appear in bold.\nEntries that relate to provisions that have been deleted appear in italics.\nProvision\nHow varied\nCommencement\nr 2\nomitted under the Legislation Revision and Publication Act 2002\n7.6.2017\nr 3\n\n\nday options program\ninserted by 77/2017 r 4(1)\n7.6.2017\nday options program premises\ninserted by 77/2017 r 4(1)\n7.6.2017\ndisability accommodation premises\nvaried by 77/2017 r 4(2)\n7.6.2017\neligible person\ninserted by 77/2017 r 4(3)\n7.6.2017\nr 4\n\n\nr 4(1)\nvaried by 77/2017 r 5(1), (2)\n7.6.2017\nr 4(2)\nvaried by 77/2017 r 5(3), (4)\n7.6.2017\nr 5\n\n\nr 5(1)\nsubstituted by 77/2017 r 6(1)\n7.6.2017\nr 5(2)\nvaried by 77/2017 r 6(2)\n7.6.2017\nr 6\n\n\nr 6(1)\nvaried by 77/2017 r 7\n7.6.2017\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The regulations were broadened in 2017 to expressly cover day options programs and day options program premises and to introduce an 'eligible person' definition (see variations to r3 and r4). Corresponding changes expanded visitor functions and request processes (r4 and r5), increasing the scheme's operational scope beyond accommodation premises to daytime service settings and adding duties for managers and providers to facilitate visits and notifications."},"complexity_factors":["Cross‑references to external definitions: 'community visitor' and 'Principal Community Visitor' are defined in the Mental Health Act 2009 (r3) — requires consult of another Act.","Multiple entry, inspection and information powers with conditional limits: visitors may enter at a reasonable time and request documents, but inspection of equipment/items requires manager permission (r4(2)(b)–(d)).","Specified notification and reporting timeframes: managers must advise visitors of requests within 2 days (r5(2)); Principal Community Visitor must send annual report by 30 September and Minister must lay reports within 6 sitting days (r6(2),(4)).","Scope expansion and overlapping duties: inclusion of day options program premises and eligible persons (definitions inserted, r4 and r5 varied in 2017) increases reach and creates potential interaction with performance agreements between providers and the Minister (r4(1)(a)(vii), r4(1)(ab)(v)).","Discretion and administrative design: Principal Community Visitor sets reporting requirements for community visitors (r6(1)) and may prepare special reports (r6(3)), concentrating procedural discretion in that office."],"plain_english_summary":"These regulations set out the powers, duties and reporting rules for community visitors who inspect disability accommodation and day‑options program premises, interview residents and staff, examine records and report concerns to the Principal Community Visitor and Minister (regs 4–6). They affect residents and day‑program attendees, their guardians/carers, and disability service providers and managers by requiring managers to notify visitor requests within 2 days (r5(2)), to allow reasonable visits and document access (r4(2)), and by imposing annual and special reporting deadlines (r6)."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"Unauthenticated. Configure AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY or use a provider module. Learn more: https://ai-sdk.dev/unauthenticated-ai-gateway","source":"analysis-cron"},"summary":{"complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Unable to assess whether the scope changed from original intent — the full text of the legislation was not retrievable from the provided source."},"complexity_factors":["No legislative text was available for analysis — the source URL returned a 404 Page Not Found error","Complexity cannot be meaningfully assessed without the actual content of the regulations","Score of 1 reflects absence of data, not simplicity of the underlying law"],"plain_english_summary":"This South Australian regulation sets out a Community Visitor Scheme for disability services: independent visitors can inspect service settings and talk with people with disabilities to monitor wellbeing and guard against neglect or abuse. It applies to disability service users and providers in SA. Note: the instrument dates from 2013 and may have been amended or superseded since."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The original 2013 regulations covered only disability accommodation premises (residential care). The 2017 amendments significantly expanded scope to include day options program premises—daytime services for people assessed as unable to work or study. This doubled the types of facilities covered and added parallel functions, definitions, and complaint pathways for this new category. While the expansion was substantial, it maintained the original protective intent rather than diverting to unrelated purposes."},"complexity_factors":["Short length (6 substantive regulations plus interpretation)","Minimal defined terms (8 definitions, most referencing other Acts)","Straightforward structure with clear functional divisions","No nested conditional logic or exceptions to exceptions","Limited cross-referencing (primarily to the Disability Services Act 1993 and Mental Health Act 2009)","Clear delineation of powers and reporting obligations","2017 amendments added a second category of premises (day options) but maintained parallel structure rather than complicating existing provisions"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this legislation does:**\n\nThese regulations set up a **Community Visitor Scheme** to protect vulnerable people with disabilities in South Australia. They give specially appointed \"community visitors\" the power to check on two types of places:\n\n- **Disability accommodation premises** – where people with disabilities live (including short-term respite care)\n- **Day options program premises** – daytime centres where eligible people with disabilities go for life skills, learning, or recreation\n\n**Who it affects:**\n\n- **Residents** of disability accommodation and **attendees** of day programs\n- **Community visitors** – independent advocates who visit these facilities (these are the same visitors who operate under the Mental Health Act 2009)\n- **Disability services providers** – organisations running these facilities\n- **Family, carers, and supporters** – who can request a community visitor on someone's behalf\n\n**What community visitors can do:**\n\n- Enter premises at any reasonable time\n- Meet privately with residents or program attendees\n- Inspect premises and equipment (with the manager's permission)\n- Request and examine documents and records\n- Look into specific concerns including:\n  - Quality and appropriateness of facilities\n  - Whether people are included in community life\n  - Cases of abuse, neglect, or suspected abuse\n  - Use of restrictive practices (like physical restraint) or forced treatment\n  - Whether services follow the principles in the Disability Services Act\n  - Complaints from residents, families, carers, or supporters\n\n**Reporting and accountability:**\n\n- Visitors must report to the **Principal Community Visitor** after each visit\n- The Principal must send an annual report to the Minister by 30 September each year\n- The Minister must table these reports in Parliament within 6 sitting days\n- Special reports can be prepared at any time for serious issues\n\n**Why it matters:**\n\nThis scheme provides **independent oversight** of disability services. It creates a safeguard against abuse and neglect by ensuring someone outside the service provider can check conditions, listen to complaints, and advocate for vulnerable people who may struggle to speak up for themselves. The 2017 amendments expanded the scheme to cover day programs, not just residential care.\n\n**Note:** These regulations will be revoked on 1 July 2026 under new repeal regulations."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/disability-services-community-visitor-scheme-regulations-2013","history":"/api/acts/disability-services-community-visitor-scheme-regulations-2013/history","analysis":"/api/acts/disability-services-community-visitor-scheme-regulations-2013/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/disability-services-community-visitor-scheme-regulations-2013/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/disability-services-community-visitor-scheme-regulations-2013/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/disability-services-community-visitor-scheme-regulations-2013/documents"}}