Page 4230 - Week 11 - Thursday, 25 October 2018
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Mr Moss titled his review So much sadness in our lives: independent inquiry into the treatment in custody of Steven Freeman. It was made available to me on 7 November 2016, and I publicly released the review on 10 November 2016. The review found that the government must do more to ensure that people in custody are safe and receive culturally safe health care. It highlighted the need for improvements in a range of areas, including increasing cultural proficiency to better manage the welfare of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander detainees.
The ACT government responded to the Moss review on 16 February 2016, agreeing to eight of the nine recommendations. These recommendations relate to how the management, care and supervision arrangements for detainees might be improved. Only one recommendation was noted and this was because it related to the independent office of the ACT Health Services Commissioner.
Recommendations made in the Moss review were directed to a number of government directorates and statutory office holders, including the ACT Health Services Commissioner, ACT Policing, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the ACT Ombudsman. The review also refers to Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services and encourages their increased participation to deliver culturally safe health services to detainees.
All conclusions made throughout the Moss review under recommendation 9 were noted and have been acted upon. Some of these were general observations made by the reviewer, findings about particular issues or constructive suggestions for action and change. The work achieved so far sets a strong foundation for ongoing systems improvement, especially around the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. I am pleased to note the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body has indicated it will continue to oversight progress against these matters as part of its annual hearings process with directorates.
To provide assurance to the community on the progress of the government’s response, strong governance arrangements were put in place from the outset to oversee and independently report to me on the implementation of the Moss review. This work was progressed at officer level by an interdirectorate project team and overseen by a high-level oversight steering committee. I appointed an independent chair, Mr Russell Taylor AM, to lead the implementation oversight steering committee and report directly to me on its progress. Members of the implementation oversight steering committee included the directors-general of the Justice and Community Safety Directorate, ACT Health and the Community Services Directorate.
In addition to government representatives, I was keen to ensure key community representatives were included, with strong representation from Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services, the Aboriginal Legal Service and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body to ensure that the interests of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community were being met throughout this process.
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