Page 1599 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 10 May 2017
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The functions accorded to the role of the Public Advocate do not involve just monitoring and oversight; they also include a range of system and service improvement obligations. Section 27B(1) of the Human Rights Commission Act 2005 gives authority to the Public Advocate to, amongst other things, advocate for the rights of children and young people and, as a part of advocating for these rights, foster the provision of services and facilities for children and young people; support the establishment of organisations that support children and young people; promote the protection of children and young people from abuse and exploitation; listen to and investigate concerns from children and young people about the provision of services for the protection of children and young people; monitor the provision of services for the protection of children and young people; and deal, on behalf of children and young people, with entities providing services.
The prevalence and seriousness of issues impacting children and young people in the ACT cannot be over-emphasised. There are issues such as homelessness, which nearly doubled for children and young people up to 18 years old from 2006 to 2011; out of home care placements, where there has been an 11 per cent increase from 2014 to 2015; and a continuing over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in care—13 times that of non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in the ACT versus the national rate of 9.5 times, which in itself is not great—and in youth justice, 29 per cent from 2014 to 2015. These are just some of the challenges faced by children and young people in the ACT.
The coming years are also likely to see an increased demand for the Public Advocate’s services for children and young people due to recent and anticipated changes in legislative and service systems within the ACT in response to proposed information sharing provisions, increased family violence awareness, the implementation of the reportable conduct scheme, the review of working with vulnerable people checks and recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, to name just a few of the further initiatives currently underway.
As you would appreciate, with only one full-time person dedicated to this program, there are significant limitations to the office’s ability to effectively discharge their legislative responsibilities. That is why I have made this amendment. In order for the Public Advocate to appropriately discharge her duties, there is a need to review and, hopefully, increase the resources allocated to the office.
The Glanfield inquiry indicated that the operational compliance and support area in child and youth protection services that focuses on responding to the Public Advocate is under-resourced to deal with this level of requests in a timely manner. The inquiry understood that responses from CSD have been delayed and that the operational compliance and support area in CYPS that focuses on responding to the Public Advocate is under-resourced to deal with this level of requests in a timely manner.
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