Page 2195 - Week 07 - Thursday, 27 August 2020
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barriers were put up to the committee and that the committee was treated as though it was an information sharer under the act. It took a fair amount of cajoling, with a considerable delay and cost to the Assembly, for us to obtain advice on procedural matters that allowed us to proceed with hearing evidence from officials about this matter. The fact that we had to do this showed a startling lack of understanding of the role of the committee.
I am grateful in a way that we now have definitive advice from Professor Richard Herr OAM about the precedence that committees have, the way information going to committees has precedence over other legislation, and the primacy of the Assembly over the executive in seeking information. There is a recommendation in the committee report that relates to the executive and officials obtaining a better understanding of how the committee system works and its right to obtain information. That is succinctly put in Professor Herr’s seven-page opinion, which is appended to the report. It is an important piece of work for this Assembly and for other parliaments and the way that committees work.
Although it was frustrating, I am now glad that we have gone through the process of finding someone who could give us accurate procedural advice. It should be taken on board and become essential reading for incoming ministers and officials who are coming to committees and be a primer for committee members. The advice empowers committees to act appropriately.
The two inquiries and three reports, taken together, are, in many ways, an extraordinarily important piece of work. Ms Le Couteur characterised the health committee as a mothers’ club. Over the past year or so, we have almost exclusively dealt with mothers and family issues. As a group of mothers, we are well positioned to do that.
The 50-plus recommendations from these three reports are very important. I commend them to the government and to those to whom the recommendations are directed for action. I hope that in the Tenth Assembly we will see a better operating Children and Young People Act and better operating care and protection system. I thank everyone involved in the committee for the important work that was done here.
MS STEPHEN-SMITH (Kurrajong—Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Minister for Children, Youth and Families and Minister for Health) (10.32): I want to speak briefly on this report and this inquiry, acknowledging again that the government will not have time to respond in a formal way.
I want to acknowledge the work of the members of the committee: Ms Cody, Mrs Dunne and Ms Le Couteur. This was, indeed, a challenging piece of work and a challenging inquiry. I want to echo the committee members’ thanks to the secretariat. Andréa not only worked very closely with the committee but also was extremely helpful in working with officials to work through the complexities of information sharing, as well as making arrangements for officials and me to appear before the inquiry. I also acknowledge the way that the very sensitive information that related to this inquiry was handled.
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