Page 528 - Week 02 - Thursday, 9 March 2006
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divulge sensitive information to a court, unless it is necessary to do so for this act. The Standing Committee on Legal Affairs raised concerns that the clause may be a limitation on the right to a fair trial regarding the principle that all relevant evidence is admissible.
The provisions serve an important and significant objective in protecting and promoting the community’s confidence in voluntarily reporting child abuse and neglect to statutory authorities. There is an overriding public interest that children at risk of abuse and neglect require community members to report concerns to authorities with confidence that their identity and concerns will be adequately protected. The consequences of not establishing such a framework for the protection of this information would be diminished confidence by community members to report abuse and neglect of children and fewer reports being made voluntarily. This, in turn, could lead to diminished protection for children at risk.
Some sensitive information has a special character because it is compulsorily acquired through mandatory reporting provisions under the act. This includes information characterised as interstate child abuse reports which may have been obtained through equivalent mandatory reporting provisions in other Australian jurisdictions. Similarities can be drawn with information obtained under compulsion by a royal commission. In such cases, the information is generally not admissible in subsequent legal proceedings. There is a need to ensure that persons who are required at law to report abuse, either under the Children and Young People Act 1999 or a law of another state or territory, will be adequately protected. The provisions are the least restrictive in order to achieve adequate protection of sensitive information.
The bill provides for the chief executive to release such information if it is in the best interests of a child or young person. This will allow for the chief executive to exercise discretion regarding the release of information on an individual case basis where it is demonstrably in the best interests of the child. These provisions will not have a disproportionately severe effect on parties to proceedings. Whilst the provisions may affect some legal proceedings, in most cases sensitive information will be relevant only in proceedings arising under the act in relation to care and protection applications to the Children’s Court.
The final amendment is to clause 22. A transitional government amendment has been made to exempt work experience arrangements from the act until 30 December 2006, which will allow for detailed consideration of the police matters related to work experience. The amendment is necessary in response to concerns raised by the Department of Education and Training that work experience may fall within the scope of the employment provisions under the act, the implications of which were that work experience placements for children under school leaving age—that is, 15—were not being arranged in accordance with the requirements of the employment provisions. In view of these concerns, the Department of Education and Training has ceased work experience arrangements for students under the age of 15, pending review of the provisions. This government amendment provides for enhanced clarity that work experience arrangements are not considered to be employment for the purposes of the act.
As this is probably the last time I will be on my feet, I would like to thank staff of my office. When I spoke on Tuesday, I failed to thank the staff of my office who have done
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