Page 2966 - Week 10 - Thursday, 15 September 1994
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advise the court on treatment options which may be suitable. Obviously, it is important that the panels are carefully established and that their activities and recommendations are forwarded expeditiously to the court.
The Drugs of Dependence Act 1989 sets out in some detail the establishment of panels and the management of individuals through the assessment and treatment process, setting out functions, powers and duties of various individuals and entities. A number of these duties relating to the assessment and treatment of individuals were originally assigned to the ACT Board of Health in recognition that they should best be managed within the management and administration of the health system.
Members will recall that the Board of Health was abolished in 1993 to provide more direct accountability of the health system to the Minister for Health. An unintended result of that action was that certain duties relating to the management of an individual's assessment treatment reverted directly to the Minister for Health and personally to the Minister for Health. Madam Speaker, while we all take a keen interest in the welfare of individuals, I question whether it is appropriate for me or any Minister for Health to be signing assessment notices for the court to consider, to act as a post office for court orders and panel assessment notices, and to have to ring up police officers when a client does not turn up for treatment.
A further difficulty is that, while powers and functions can be delegated, this is not the case for duties. As such, I am not able by a simple instrument of delegation to give senior staff the power to take on these administrative duties. Madam Speaker, both Mr Berry and I would be familiar with officers turning up at odd hours of the night with papers to sign relating to an individual's treatment procedures, and that is really not an appropriate duty to be exercised by a Minister.
The Drugs of Dependence (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) 1994 corrects this anomalous situation. It moves a range of administrative and management duties related to an individual's treatment to a senior position within the ACT Department of Health. Specifically, it provides a legislative requirement for the position of the Director of the Alcohol and Drug Service in the Department of Health and requires that the chief executive of Health ensure that that position is filled. The Director of the Alcohol and Drug Service is the senior officer currently responsible for the operation of the treatment assessment panels and the management of individuals referred from the court for assessment and treatment. As such, the Bill provides for a number of duties currently held by the Minister to be transferred to this officer, including the referral of court orders between the panel and the court; requesting, on behalf of the individual, the court or the treatment agency for a revocation or variation of the order; signing of assessments by the panel; advising a police officer and the court when an individual does not attend for assessment or treatment; and making alternative arrangements where treatment centres lose their approval to provide treatment. Madam Speaker, these changes will not impose any additional costs. Indeed, they will add to the efficient operation of the panels and the courts, ensuring that individuals get quicker access to panels and to treatment. I table the explanatory memorandum and commend the Bill to the house.
Debate (on motion by Mrs Carnell) adjourned.
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