Page 3285 - Week 10 - Thursday, 25 August 2005

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .

---

That this bill be agreed to.

The Assembly voted—

Question so resolved in the affirmative.

Bill agreed to.

Public Advocate Bill 2005

Debate resumed from 30 June 2005, on motion by Ms Gallagher:

That this bill be agreed to in principle.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Bill agreed to in principle.

Detail stage

Bill, by leave, taken as a whole.

DR FOSKEY (Molonglo) (5.29): I move amendment No 1 circulated in my name [see schedule 4 at page 3295].

This amendment is about schedule 1 changes to section 6B of the Ombudsman Act 1989 as it relates to mandatory referral to the Public Advocate. Section 6B of the Ombudsman Act 1989 contains an obligation of mandatory referral of complaints by the ombudsman to another statutory agency. One of the listed agencies is the more appropriate agency to investigate the complaints. The amendment adds the Public Advocate to the list of agencies the ombudsman can refer complaints to.

MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Children, Youth and Family Support, Minister for Women and Minister for Industrial Relations) (5.30): The amendment proposed by Dr Foskey to the Public Advocate Bill to amend section 6B (1) of the Ombudsman Act would add the Public Advocate to the list of agencies to which the ombudsman must refer a matter for investigation, if the ombudsman decides that the matter would be more appropriately investigated by that agency.

The inclusion of the Public Advocate in the list of agencies in section 6B is a departure from the current situation, as the Community Advocate is not mentioned in that provision. However, this proposed amendment would operate consistently with other

---

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .