Page 93 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 7 December 2004
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commission through complaints or by other means. Working together as part of an overarching commission, commissioners will be able to investigate matters jointly where there are overlapping issues, which partially, I would hope, addresses some of the concerns Dr Foskey raised about having commissioners being restricted somewhat.
The establishment of a new overarching commission will balance the benefits of specialist commissioners with the advantages of a bigger office. Commissioners will be able to be appointed on a full-time or part-time basis, depending on the workload related to particular areas, without reducing the front office services to the public. For members of the public, the new commission will present a single office in which they can learn about rights or service standards and have complaints or concerns examined. When a person has a problem that relates to more than one issue such as, for example, discrimination and disability services, that person will not have to go from one oversight agency to another.
All matters brought to the attention of the commission will be able to be dealt with consistently. The new commission will be able to make reports and recommendations to a wide range of bodies in order to encourage service improvement. Decisions about reporting will be made on the basis of the results of the investigation process so that the recommendations can be targeted at systemic improvement and optimum service delivery. When the commission decides it should report to the government on a matter of public importance, that report will be brought to the Assembly also.
Efficiency, accountability and accessibility are all important features of an effective statutory oversight system. The changes proposed in our position paper will ensure that they are features of our system for protection and support of Canberra community members. The implementation of the government’s position paper on the system of statutory oversight in the ACT presents an excellent opportunity for increased protection of disability and community services users in the territory.
I have already spoken about the government’s intentions in relation to the structure of the new human rights and service review commission, so now I will address the key improvements that will impact on those consumers in the disability and community services sectors. In creating the new commission, the government has played close attention to the needs of disability consumers. Our response to the report of the board of inquiry into disability services of September 2002 indicated that we would consider the establishment of a specific commissioner to investigate complaints about disability services.
Subsequent to this announcement, we listened to the community through both the FEMAG review and the submission to government from the disability reform legislative working group. This submission, based on community consultation, informed many of the positions that the government adopted in relation to the disability services commissioner. Specifically, the disability services commissioner will monitor the quality of disability services, conduct inquiries and review issues relating to disability services, investigate complaints about disability services from people with a disability and others, encourage the resolution of complaints about disability services through internal complaints handling processes, make recommendations to disability services on the improvement of services and make recommendations to the minister and the Attorney-General in relation to the improvement of disability services or the service
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