Page 92 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 7 December 2004
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(4.17): I thank very much Dr Foskey for her support for the initiative to create a commissioner for people with disabilities.
Mr Speaker, in August this year, the Chief Minister tabled a government position paper on the system of statutory oversight in the ACT entitled The right system for rights protection. That paper responded to the report of the review of statutory oversight and community advocacy agencies conducted by the Foundation for Effective Markets and Governance, known as the FEMAG report. The right system for rights protection also takes account of the board of inquiry into disability services report, the ACT Health review, the disability reform legislative working group’s submission to government on the disability commissioner and the review of the safety of children in care in the ACT and of ACT child protection management.
When the government commissioned FEMAG to conduct a review of statutory oversight and community advocacy agencies, it was looking for a broad-ranging review of the statutory oversight system. Terms of reference for the review were subject to community consultation conducted by ACTCOSS. In response to consultation comments, the terms of reference were refined to ensure a balanced approach in which the reviewer examined statutory oversight functions and powers to determine whether there were overlaps between agencies or gaps in the system and how the system as a whole operated to provide an efficient and effective method of improving services and protecting rights of consumers. The terms of reference allowed community members to have input into the review process in a variety of ways.
During the review, the reviewer, FEMAG, held discussions with over 200 people, including meeting with representatives of over 50 organisations and participating in a forum organised for the disability sector.
To ensure the government position set out in The right system for rights protection is based on extensive review of community consultation processes carried out over several years, after taking on board all that we have been told, the government proposes to establish a new structure for statutory oversight in the ACT that is more streamlined and accessible to the public. The new structure will be efficient and flexible and will have the objective of both protecting vulnerable community members and improving service delivery.
Both the report from FEMAG on the review of statutory oversight and community advocacy agencies and the ACT Health review report comment on the need to consolidate statutory oversight agencies to improve efficiency, flexibility and the efficient use of resources. In the context of the small size of the ACT, this makes sense. The new structure proposed by the government will provide a strength that a series of small, stand-alone agencies does not have.
The legislation currently being developed for a new human rights and service review commission will enable specialist commissioners to work together to deal with individual complaints as well as looking for solutions to systemic problems. The new commission will initially include the human rights and service review commissioner, the health services commissioner and the disability services commissioner. The new role of president of the commission will take on the day-to-day administration tasks, leaving specialist commissioners free to investigate issues brought to the attention of the
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